MacMahon and Murphy

And now the Loose Hosts. Welcome to the Loose Podcast on a Monday morning. What's going on in the basketball world kind of team USA, losing to Canada in the bronze medal game after losing to Germany, the FIBA World Cup champion. German team, congratulations to them. I have their request out for a Wagner Brothers joint appearance on the Loose Podcast. We'll see about that. Dennis Schroeder, holy smokes, Dennis Schroeder. What a, what a, what a shocking outcome for Germany, beating Serbia in the gold medal game. Serbia balled out the entire tournament and Nicole Yovic bumping up his trade value for the Miami Heat. We got Christian Woods signing with the Lakers. I haven't addressed that. And just hot off the presses, as we're recording this, Tim McMahon, Adrian Wojdznarowski reporting the NBA Board of Governors meeting this Wednesday in New York, it's Tuesday and Wednesday, but the press conference I know is Wednesday are gonna try to vote on, slash vote on, beefing up the penalties for resting players trying to ban teams from resting two quote-unquote star players at the same time. We'll see who counts as a star and beefing up the fines that you can hit teams with for resting players on national TV games. In particular, I think we'll be the focus of this. I know the league has, I believe in the schedule kind of built in the biggest national TV games like the ABC Saturday Night Game so that no one is playing a back-to-back on either end of this. Where would you like to start to, McMahon? It's been a long time. Do you care about the resting rules? Well, first of all, howdy, partner. Listen, company man here, got the ESPNT shirt on. Boy, I'm big on these resting rules, baby. I think there should be like, you know, potential prison sentences, all kinds of stuff. Like, let's get those ratings up. Come on, let's get the stars on TV. So, TV TV TV. Can you spell that for me? That's still, do you have one of those in your home? Does anyone have those in their homes anymore? I got a bunch of them, you know, nice big screens. And can people buy televisions for anyone listening under 30? Can you go out and buy a television and subscribe to a cable television for me, please? Thank you. Anyway, that's a man. I'll tell you what, I was trying to figure out how to get the damn red zone yesterday. Now that, well, neither here nor there. This is not about our football podcast, but I've got a few more gray hairs after that experience and no red zone, but such as life. I got no hot takes on the resting policy, other than, sounds good to me. I'd like to see the star players play in more of the basketball games that is the point of the basketball league. It's the basketball games. I'd like to see the stars play in them. If the league has taken care, at least somewhat, to space out games so that the national TV games or at least some chunk of them are back-to-back free on both sides, play. And if you can't play, prove your hurt. And if you can't prove your hurt, your team is going to pay some money. And that's that. So I mean, look, this is literally being tweeted by Woj and others currently. I have not thought more about this in a while. I remember this was a lot of the talk at the competition committee meeting at the draft combine. There was a lot of talk about beefing up penalties for resting star players for the old DMP rest. I'm just, I don't, is there a counter-argument to this? So it seems like a good idea to me to play the basketball games. I would think so. And I think that the other thing is you're, I think teams are discovering, hey, it's probably a good idea for our star to be on the court more often than not, because, geez, Louise, this hasn't exactly worked out for the most rest centric teams in the league. Tyleu's on this big, like the regular season matters, crusade, all of a sudden. It's like, yeah, apparently. Yeah, Clipper, it was my favorite moment of the, one of my favorite moments of a very eventful, just a eventful absurd off season. And the absurd wing of the Hall of Fame, there's a lot going on, was the Clippers and particularly Tyleu talking about taking the regular season seriously as if they had made some scientific discovery. Like, I don't know if you guys have thought about this concept, but we got to take the regular season a little bit more. Seriously, our producer Andrea said in our video producer, Andrea said in, as we were talking through the resting stuff, our Kauai MP, you're going to flip a coin to see who has to play in these games. I said, man, if they flip a coin, they might, they might injure their wrists, like there may be a, there may be DNP, the right wrist soreness two weeks. Do not rule out them to sign, okay, Kauai, I'll take the second half, you got the first half. Kauai, there have been decisions made on a half by half basis with him before, not necessarily in consultation with his coach. If my screen freezes halfway through this podcast, that means I just left, took the second half off and you just have to carry it the rest of the way. Team USA farted its way out of the people world cup, close loss to Germany, overtime lost to Canada after like an awful, this is the year of the mist free throw, turning into a clutch, overtime forcing, or game winning basket. Donovan Mitchell did it twice, both were lane violations that were not called. Luca most famously did it against the Knicks and did his little tippy tap dance afterwards and Mikhail Bridges did it somehow resulting in a corner three and we lost anyway, we, I'm going back to we, I got to stop with the we. I can't do we, because anytime somebody says we, I say, well, what number are you? And I don't have a jersey, so it's Team USA, it's not we. So I would say, I would posit that there's a small minority of basketball fans who are like really up in arms, like how could the US lose? They will use the we, like we got to feel the better, the rest of the world is catching up and the majority of the fans are like, there was a world cup that happened, there were games somewhere the US lost. No, we're really early in the morning is what the games were. So Team USA finished five and three with a plus 17 scoring margin. That's not great for the US. Here are wins came against the following teams. Jordan finished 30 second among 32 teams in the FIBA World Cup. Greece without Yannis finished 15th. Montenegro 11th, Italy 8th, New Zealand, 22nd. We lost to Lithuania, Canada and Germany. All of that is a fancy way of saying, we lost to every good team we played and played and beat only the bad teams. In the last six FIBA World Cups, the US has won only two of them. 2010 and 2014, we came fourth this time around and seventh in 2019. Team just didn't play very well, particularly on defense. I thought the US defense just fell apart. The last three games, blowbys, all over the place. Bad angles taken on closeouts, bad screen navigation, certain guys on our team, particularly Reeves and Brunson getting hunted maliciously. But I just, you know, Jaren Jackson, Jr. are defensive anchor, could not A stay on the floor or B get a rebound, the ladder of which was much more disturbing to me as a neutral observer in these national battles, international battles. So all of that is now done. It's over, congratulations to Germany, congratulations to Serbia, congratulations to Canada, Blake Murphy will be on shortly to discuss Canada's biggest moment in global basketball, maybe ever. Now it's time to look to Paris, where all of a sudden, very predictably, Ryan Wendorse reports this morning that the big guns are coming. LeBron wants to play. He's already called Anthony Davis. Steph Curry, they've had a confab, they all want to play. This is what happens. The US cares about the Olympics a lot. And look, I mean, like I just said, two out of the last six is all the US is one of the World Cup. If we don't bring our best players, we're not really a good bet to win these tournaments against teams that have A played longer together, B are familiar with fever rules, which are very different, and C have all or most of their best guys. So I said, let's play a fun game. And I gave you three things to do, but I'm actually going to add a fourth right now. From this 12-man roster, so you pretend you're Grant Hill, Sean Ford, Steve Curry. You have unilateral authority to pick the US Olympic team for Paris. Pretend everybody is healthy, and everybody actually wants to play. And by the way, as we saw with Chris Middleton and Drew Holiday, if you make a deep playoff run in NBA, this is a instant turnaround to the Olympics. This, I think the Olympics started even earlier this coming year. Yeah, but not quite as instant, because that's when the schedule is still a little bit off of the normal pandemic, because of all the pandemics. But it is a quick turnaround, for sure. Okay, so question one, how many people on this current team that just finished fourth, are you bringing to Paris, and who are they? Ooh, okay, that's the one that you didn't give me now. That's a tough one. It's probably not very many. I think Anthony Edwards is gonna have a shot there. I think that, I still think bridges would have a shot. I think Haliburton would have a shot. Those are the three that would be my top three picks. I'm bringing two, I'm bringing two. I'm giving these two guys spots. Bridges I'm bringing first, because I just think he played great on both ends of the floor, and he's a hand in glove fit on a team that is gonna have more superstar talent, and fewer chances for him to have the ball. Ants fit on that team is a little bit murkier. I think he'd probably go back into the Dwayne Wade ventrull that he did not seem to love when Steve Kerr first pitched to him this time around, but I do think a guy who took the number one option, Mantle, and owned it, led the team and scoring, didn't always love his pass or shoot, decision making balance. I thought he got a little hoggy at times. There was no decision making there. You say pass or shoot, it was shoot. He had the one game against Italy, but was it Italy or Montenegro where he just didn't shoot and was passing all the time? Yeah. But I'm rewarding him with a spot. We gotta figure, he played mostly hard, defensively, his off-ball defense was hit or missed at times, so I'm rewarding him. Haliburton was number three for me, and I just think I gotta go TBD with him based on how many stretchy ball handling, three-point shooting point guards that are better than him that I can get on the team. Like if I have Steph and Dam, or Steph and Shreya Young, although I'm not sure I would take Shreya Young over Tyree's Haliburton. If I have two of those guys, I'm not sure I need him for a third roster slot, so right now I'm only committing to two. Question number two was, you get three picks. They all have to come, you get three dream picks for 2024 American players. They're all gonna come, they all wanna come. I stop you at three, you might have six guys that are on your list of like, I would love these guys to all play, but who are your top three first phone calls, first yeses you wanna lock in? Now two of them sounds like they are on the way, LeBron and Steph. Steph never played the Olympics, which is insane. LeBron hadn't played in a long, long time. Obviously, sounds like he's looking for a last-her-arm, sure there will be some camera crews and producers hired to document the experience in Paris, which is a pretty attractive place. And then the other one, there's an asterisk on this. Because you asked me about the Americans. Well, I'm getting Joel and Bede. It's gonna be a recruitment process there, you gotta convince him that he's American and not French, despite the fact he's from Cameroon, but he is eligible and boy or boy do the Americans need a big man. So, Joel and Bede is top priority. So I put M.B. to the side and I assumed that we would not be able to convince him to play for Team USA, but yes, we need some size, some post-defense, some rebounding, some room protection. And if you can also get some baskets doing all that awesome and Joel and Bede, the MVP, checks all those boxes. My top three, lock picks. Curry. It's a give me someone who just makes it so easy. Like, there were just, we had no continuity on offense unless both Reeves and Halliburton were in the game. And even sometimes then there would be like one action and everything kind of slows down. Brunson, I mean, I was gonna ask you who kind of disappointed in the tournament. We already mentioned Jerry and Jackson Jr. Brunson's numbers are okay. He shot I think 51% overall, 54% on twos. It just never felt like he really impacted the game that much. He's not, he's a good pick and roll player, getting downhill for his floaters and his little spinny pivoty footwork things in the post and the mid-range. It just, I yearned the whole time for someone who either through sheer speed or like Steph drawing the defense 35 feet from the rim could just get the ball from point A to point B a little easier and a little faster. And what Steph does to defense is just unfair. Brunson, I just, it made you appreciate how well he fits in New York's more like just ISO, mismatch hunt, take your time. Like that's more his game than the way Team USA was playing. Yeah, I've been braining the England. Had a tough time fitting into. I think if you're looking at disappointments, he's out, he's out for me. He's definitely on that list. Brunson didn't have a great tournament. There's no doubt about that and look. I mean, he's $104 million bargain, but he's not a superstar. He's not a guy, you know, I think he's an all-star caliber player, but he's never been an all-star. Like, I don't think that there should be this expectation that Jay and Brunson's going to, you know, absolutely dominate every tournament that he's been in. And this is the guy who the Mavericks didn't think was good enough to give a $56 million extension. And not have the option of trading. That yeah, that didn't work out for them. We're going to talk about the Mavericks later because obviously there is the Slovenian connection to the FIBO World Cup and the Dallas Mavericks. Slovenia may not have won a medal in the FIBO World Cup. They definitely, they finished seventh, but first in whining, just gold medal for whining. Congratulations to Luca Donticci and the Slovenian team. You're going to get Cuban and say nasty things about Giuliani does not like when you talk about Luca one. Luca, Luca, you don't know what you're talking about. I have said many times if there's one, like I remember talking to Clippers people when they manipulated the seedings to kind of, not necessarily face Dallas, but avoid being on the Lakers side of the bracket and Dallas was the sort of collateral damage that. I said, I wouldn't want that dude for a seven game series. That dude is by himself going to tear apart whatever defense you throw at him. While he's doing it, he's going to whine about every call and non-call and every time he's touched and get thrown out of a game. This is too straight major international tournaments. He's been tossed out of, he was tossed to get when they lost a pole and then a major upset in Eurobasket and then he was tossed this time and then lost a canada. Did you like, I watched the fair bit of the World Cup. I watched all the elimination games, knockout games or whatever we're calling these games. All of the US games, most of the Canada games. Did you like the FIBA games, like how they flowed, how they played, the physicality, the officiating? I like the NBA game better. When I enjoy about FIBA is like the, it is a different sort of pride without question. I enjoy that. Having been to group play of Eurobasket, like the atmosphere is awesome. I'm not sure how it's different when it's Eurobasket, it's a lot easier to travel, but just in terms of aesthetics, I prefer the NBA games. I don't disagree with you in aesthetics. I will say, and I was texting with a bunch of people in the last couple of days, including some people who were in Manila with and around Team USA, about, why does FIBA seem friendlier than the NBA to certain types of players? Why do certain types of players seem to do better in these competitions than they do in the NBA? And I specified to these people, I mean, kind of slow-footed big guys with post-skills, and we saw Lithuania, Serbia thrive with these guys. And Spain didn't make it through, but Billy Hernandez is an awesome FIBA player. Was Eurobasket in VP last year? Louis Schola, it could probably get on the floor now in average 20-a game for Argentina. The guy just never stopped putting up 20 and 10 for Argentina. He was like 45 years old doing this. And guys who are defensively challenged, but A plus shooters, do not get played off the floor as easily in FIBA. And some of the answers were obvious in most of what I got back matchup with what I thought, the lack of a defensive three-second rule really benefits the slow-footed big-ing, because they could just hang in the paint. That combined with the fact that the three-point line is closer, there's just less space for these slow-wish defenders to cover. The help has come in earlier, because you have your big guy planted in there a lot of the time. So the stress on you is a little bit less. And you can actually touch people on the perimeter, which you can't do in the NBA. In the NBA, you can basically take a steel chair to someone's knee in the post, but you can't breathe on them in the perimeter. I find that much more balanced in terms of how the areas of the court are officiating in FIBA. Now FIBA's got a lot of officiating issues, not the least of which is if you make a not-nice face in the general direction of an official, they will freaking call you for an unsportsman-like foul and throw you out of the goddamn game. Like take it easy, guys. I make unpleasant faces all the time. I'd get thrown out of FIBA games quickly. But I kind of like that there's something to be looked at there in terms of the physicality, the allowance for more physical defense, and the trickle-down effects of that of a little bit more of diversity of the kinds of players that can thrive and what that does stylistically to the game. There's just something to look at. There are things to look at. Now it's much easier to defend in FIBA. Obviously you can tell that by watching Team USA give up 113 points per game in a 40 minute game. That's honestly one, probably the most embarrassing thing about Team USA is they were that bad defensively when the rules make it much easier to defend. Anyway, back to my top three locks. I didn't have LeBron. Is that sacrilegious? He's gonna be almost 40. Is that okay for me to just say that I'm just, I'm looking out for marketing. Like I said, I'm trying to create some content. I'd love to have him on the team. I want him on the team. I just, if I limited myself to three, I'm going Steph Durant, who will be 35 I think by them, but has been an A plus Team USA player. Obviously one of the greatest shooters of all time. And I went Jason Tatum because I want two way wings who can shoot in their prime. Size, defense, shooting, enough playmaking. Then I'll call LeBron after that. I want, I gotta have Devon Booker. Gotta have Devon Booker. You know who doesn't get talked a lot about for Team USA? I think he's only played once, 2016 Olympics. I'd really like to have Jimmy Butler. Can I just have like a mean ass kicker? Just a guy who's gonna be not mean like Charles Barkley, Elbowing, the poor guy from Angola, but just someone who's gonna say like, I don't really care that we're supposed to be like statesmen. Like I'm just gonna be kind of mean and talk trash and maybe hit some people and get some two point bucket. I want Jimmy Butler. Lesson sportsmanship, the most overrated thing about sports. And so I appreciate Jimmy Butler's approach. So those were my picks. Then I said, if none of your top three are big men, which they were not, nor were mine, we need some size. And Steve Kerr said this after the loss to one of the losses, one of the two recent losses. He said everyone wants us to have size. We all know, Sharon Jackson Jr. is not really getting it done. Walker Kessler was like D8 was like kind of an emergency player. Palo Bancaro was nice as a backup center. He's a four. And he said, we all want size. Go look at the American centers. Who do you want me to bring? Who do you want me to bring? So give me your two big men that you would bring. Answer his question. I mean AD, although he thinks he's, you know, the whole, the annual AD doesn't want to play center. Like dude, you're a center. AD and BAM, that one didn't take a whole lot of time. I've already got in beat on the, you know, on the roster. So that was my thing. Yeah, I didn't just qualify. I just said, let's pretend, let's, I'm a worst case scenario guy. Like I just, I think what's the, so I'm just worst case scenario we don't get in beat. So let's pretend that happens. I BAM and NAD are easy choices. That said, how are we counting Dremon Green in this discussion? Because he is in Brian's report about the early group of former veteran stalwarts of Team USA, decorated NBA players with Steph, LeBron, et cetera. He's obviously, you know, Steph's most, well, not, their pick and roll partnership is legendary. He's close with LeBron. He has declined offensively in the last two or three years. Defensively he's still a monster. Do we think we, he's still a lock? I don't know. I think if Dremon really wants to play that he's going to end up playing, I don't think Steve Kerr is going to tell Dremon, hey, I know LeBron and Steph and all these guys want you on this roster, but me, the guy who has to deal with you for 82 plus games per year is going to be the one who stands in the way. And look, Dremon's a winner. Is he, I don't think you can just count Dremon as a big, though. I don't think you can just say, hey, this fills our, quote, a center, a void at center. I think you have to consider him a four who can play some five in small ball lineups. If that's the case, then he's going to take a spot from, you know, name guys that you're interested in maybe having on the team of Jalen Brown, Paul George, Damien Lillard, like a non-center spot. I'm fine with any of those to be able to find that. And then I said, last one, some, I'm under the radar, maybe it's hard to find under the radar, but maybe some names that aren't really talked about in the Team USA conversation all that much that you, Zarr, Tim McMan of USA basketball, with like, you want to at least have a face. You're not just a phone call. You want to go to a coffee shop and have a face-to-face meeting with this guy or these guys. Another warrior. Cavan Looney. Oh, I like that rug. The rugged rebounder. Yeah, rugged rebounder. You know, he's going to, I'm assuming steps on the roster, you know, playing for Steve Kerr, like he's going to be in the right places. He's going to be physical. He's going to be smart. So that would be, you know, you asked me for an under the radar recognition was a guy who hadn't been in all star in the last few years or has never been in all star. And that's the name that came up for me. I'll tell you what. If Tim is another one I considered, I'm just Mitchell Robinson. You know, I'm just, I'm thinking, it's not bad. I'm thinking in that case, I'm thinking, obviously, you know, rim protection rebounding. I didn't think of him. That's not a bad name. Wouldn't necessarily make my cut Looney. I'll tell you what, if US played Lithuania and subonus was playing for Lithuania full strength. I mean, I never thought I would see anybody brutalized the Monticevonus on the boards, like Cavalini did in that seven game series between the Kings and the Warriors in the first round. My picks were, and this guy's been Steve Kerr's mentioned him, so it's maybe cheating. I liked the idea of Desmond Bain on Team USA. I liked the idea of give me a guy who is a sprinter mover shooter. Not just a shooter, but a movement shooter. Not even just a movement shooter, a turbo movement shooter, who has a lot of experience playing their role in the NBA, who tries hard on defense is strong. I like him. Brooke Lopez played for the 2019 World Cup team that came seventh. He may be aging out of this, but if we're looking for size and shooting and defense, that name was interesting to me. You know, we've tried. You're looking for rebounding. Well, but he's one of the Kings of the, like, he doesn't get a lot of rebounds, but he's always good for his team's rebounding. Now, if the US doesn't have enough faith in everyone else to grab the rebounds while he boxes four dudes out, that's another thing. Miles Turner got a shot. I didn't like the way he looked in international play. I mean, Jared Jackson Jr., all the offense, all the defense and rebounding stuff has gotten a lot of attention. He just did nothing on offense. Like, they would throw him these token post ups and he looked okay doing that. No pick and pop threes. Nothing off the dribble. It would just like you would pick. You would never roll. You would just pop. Wait around for like, is that I'm going to come get the ball from me for a hand? It was just like, it reminded me of Miles Turner. There's another name that never comes up. That's definitely not under the radar. That I would love to see play Fiba. I think health would mitigate against this ever happening. I would love to see Zion Williamson in international play. I thought you were going to say Kauai, but yeah. Oh, I've given up on that one. I mean, I would love to see what in the hell that looks like, that freight train coming at you in the open court in Fiba. And this is not an under the radar guy either, but remember what I said about point A to point B. If he has a good season, another good season, I think Darren Fox is going to earn a major, major look for a spot on TV. I say, even if it's over, maybe more decorated, put yours, you're sneering at this. No, no, no. I like Darren Fox. When you said point A to point B, I thought you were going to say jaw. But Darren Fox definitely gets rather off the quickly too. So Jon, Jon. It's your package, your Jon. Jon's on the long list here. I think Jon, I just think given the last calendar year, I've only got 12 slots to work with. I can go other places that don't have that same amount of baggage. It's not to say that all the gun stuff and the court cases and stuff that got them suspended both last year and to start this year is some sort of permanent like staying. It's just it's going to be pretty recent. And he's going to be coming back to do a lot. That's all. And team USA for, you know, it's team USA. Alan, and you don't want to have somebody who you feel like you need a babysitter at the hotel with straight up. The Olympics are going to be fun, man. I love the response of awkward silence. The Olympics are going to be a lot of fun because Germany's legit. They might maybe be the way Clebo though. I didn't, someone alerted this to me today. I missed the whole Dennis shooter, Maxi Clebo blood feud. Well, shooter basically said, you're not welcome here. Shooter basically said, he's like, you're not even good. He has these quotes like Maxi doesn't have any game. He stands in the corner and says, he's like, what is he saying? Well, so the thing was Maxi did not play in Eurobasket last year. And the whole thing that they want like a three year commitment type thing. He was injured recovering from injury. Yeah, and he was getting a contract extension done. But shooter was talking about, you know, you can't say you want to work in your game. That's when he was talking about you don't have a game. You know, you're not like it's not like you need to work on skill stuff, like basically whatever. But the greatest point shooter made was you weren't here last year. You know, basically that means you didn't want to be part of the program. You essentially opted out so we don't need you. Maxi's awfully, you know, I think he could still help him. Like they won World Cup without him though. But yeah, it's super awkward, especially because you know, Maxi and Dirk are so tight and Dirk obviously has such a prominent role in that, you know, the German basketball world. I have, I have a line to Dirk. I've really resisted to urge to text him. You know, see what happens when you retire. You know, and Dirk didn't even need you big fella. It's like move it. So he's Dirk's out of the picture. Hey, they don't need anybody for Wordsburg. They don't need Dirk or Maxi. But yeah, Maxi was ready to roll this summer and shooter basically made it clear I don't want you around. And so Maxi bowed out instead of, you know, creating a situation where it's going to be this huge clash. She was like, okay. Hey, and shooter. Look, let's, let's be played and say Dennis Schroeder has been a polarizing locker room presence everywhere he's gone in the NBA. And in some, yeah. And in Germany. And in Germany. Yeah. Can't argue with the performance. He, he talked to talk and he walked the walk. He was the best player start to finish for the team that won the FIFA World Cup. Hey, World Cup MVP deservedly so. I think Franz Wagner is the best player on their team. And you don't want to read too much. You missed half the half of Germany's games. He played sensationally when he played. I think the magic. I mean, I was already confident the magic have two future multi time all stars on their team is building blocks. That is to me is a stone cold lock at this point. Both those guys are all stars. And again, I've eaten crow with you many times on this one. Then I, then I take back the crow or like throw up the crow because Jonathan Kaminga has like three good games in a row. And I talk myself back into it. When I said I wouldn't lose any sleep. If I were Bob Myers and Steve Kerr and the brain should the lake of light team light years ahead about drafting Jonathan Kamingo over Franz Wagner. I said that a couple years ago. I wouldn't lose any sleep. I would now need some melatonin to get over that one. And look, I've always gotten the fit like he's off ball, on ball, switchable, incredibly high AQ player, cutter, shooter, mover, can abuse mismatches. He can run. He's everything past. Everything the warriors want to player. I just get so seduced by Jonathan Kamingo's semi weekly or bi weekly. What's every two weeks bi weekly? Bi weekly. The JC Penny bi monthly sale. The Jonathan Kamingo bi monthly burst of athleticism. I get so seduced by it. I'm wrong. I was wrong. Hey, should I pick Franz Wagner? Let Chris Paul take Munder's wing. You know, there's time here. But no. I mean, I agree with you on Franz 100% and like, hey, you think that the the warriors should be losing sleep. How about the mat? Or I'm sorry, the bulls. Oh, they're picked. How's their pick? Yeah. The mat, the, the, the matadors got some, some of the little swords have been in the bulls on that one for a few years. I don't like bullfighting. You're seeing a bullfight? I can't say that I have. If I got, if I got free tickets to a bullfight, I don't think I would go. Would you go? It falls in Spain. It's just, it's a lose, lose. Either the bull loses or you see some sort of catastrophe where the human loses and that, I don't want to see that. Like, what is the, what is upside for me going to a bullfight? Would you do the running of the bulls? Would you ever do the running of the bulls? No. No. No. That's in Pamplona, right? It sounds accurate, but no, because the, the, the risk reward there's way out of whack. You know what I would do? I would go to like the fringes of the track or wherever they run and then run directly to a place where they can't get me. But then I would tell the story of like, I was right in the middle of it. The bull was like, I could feel its breath on my butt. No, no, I would, I would, I would be like one of the, the 100,000 people who was at Will Chamberlain's 100 point game. You can't wear that shirt when you do it. That's for sure. Oh, no, this shirt would be. Yeah, you're right. You got to be, you got to be careful. Okay. That's it for my team USA thoughts, I think. Congratulations to everyone else. And, and to a, particularly to Germany and Serbia, who clinched their births to the Olympics, no yokech, Serbia rolls right along. Presumably he will play in the Olympics. And we still got four spots I believe to be determined. Croatia, Croatia swept through the Olympic pre qualifying, qualifying tournament in Turkey. They still got a shot. Don't count them out. Hey, also watch out for the Bahamas. They've got Deandre. And they've got study yield. They've got Eric Gordon now. They won in Argentina to give themselves a chance in one of those Olympic qualifying tournament. Listen, those tournaments are going to be fun too. No, there's, there's, I mean, it's hard to make 12 teams. It's hard to make the Olympics to Bahamas. Chris DeMarco, assistant coach for the Warriors, has done a tremendous job building that program up. Getting Aiden, getting Gordon, getting healed all to, to buy in and beating Argentina and Argentina. I don't really care who's playing, who's not playing what the circumstances are. That's a good win. Croatia beat Turkey in Turkey to win its qualifying in Shenguin. I know it was playing for Turkey that a couple other good guys. Those are hard wins. At the Home Depot, Saturdays are about two things. Getting your party game ready with bespoke customizable refrigerators and football. With an innovative 32-inch touchscreen boat right into the refrigerator door, right in the door. 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Call, click Granger.com or just stop by. Lakers. The most controversial free agency signing of the last couple of months. Christian Wood. Your old friend from Dallas for whom they traded a first round pick. Got off to an OK start, was kind of doing what you expected him to do, which is score a lot of points in a six man role. I predicted he would win six man to the year last year. Didn't turn out like a good prediction. Then it was spot start when injuries determined that you should start fit. You put a shooting five next to Luca. There's not going to be any answer for that defensively. Then it went sour. Extension never happened. He was eligible for an extension. Didn't get one. And signed with the Los Angeles Lakers for the minimum. The veterans minimum joining a team that is pretty loaded. In terms of just like I don't know how many minutes he's guaranteed. If you pencil in there starting five in pencil would be D. Low. Team USA hero slash Austin Reeves. LeBron. I'm going to go Rui Anthony Davis. That's my starting five off the bench. I got Gabe Vincent for sure. I think Jackson Hayes for sure at the one in the five in between. I got like Torian Prince. I got like a six and a half back. Christie's going to get a chance. Jared Vanderbiltsun incumbent starter. Can Reddish might get a chance. Christian Wood is like. I bet he'll start the season as they're back up four. Sometimes five sometimes here in with AD. But it's not like you look at this roster and see. Like 25 guaranteed minutes every single night for Christian wood. Oh listen, listen. He said he talked to. 13 games stand with Bucks and He told our our Hall of Fame friend Mark Spears that there's a big role for him This is Christian Wood, you know talked about what Dallas did to him and it's gonna be different and in L.A Communication with the coach is much better Let's see he says Coach Hayman, I go back to our Milwaukee days and we've had great conversations every day about this opportunity He believes in me and told me I'll be playing a big role and knows what I can do I'm looking forward to this and f usher motivated after what Dallas did and You know that f usher is a capital F AS you are a F usher motivate listen and just motivate these f usher Motivate average 26 minutes a game in Dallas. So if that's not a big role. I wonder what this big role. He's guaranteed in L.A He's gonna be You know the ultimate problem with Christian Wood. Well, there is I mean the basketball problem with Christian Wood offensively there is no doubting his talent He can shoot it you can score one on one He's not quite as explosive and quick off to dribble as as you might think like he doesn't get by even centers as easily as you think But he's a good kind of tricky score. You can get your 15-a-game off-dimension And loosen your spacing Defensively you've heard a lot of buzz over the years about you know Sometimes doesn't remember the scheme or the coverage every trip down the floor and he is just the ultimate He's the size of a center, but he can't play center on defense So you have to find a place to hide him and if the other team doesn't have one of these sort of non-stretchy Non-explosive fours that you can stash him on it's hard from to find a home on defense when you do have that sort of opponent The idea of him and Anthony Davis together makes a whole lot of sense But in that scenario Anthony Davis is still playing center defensively, which maybe you know we keep hearing this He doesn't want to do I He'll help them here and there in the regular season. I'm just curious where he fits What I'm more curious about from your perspective and I've made some calls about this around the last few days It's like the intel on Christian would look he's he's how many teams are we at now? There's a lot of teams now and The intel has never been great, but it's always been sort of like a I don't want to say harmless, but like yeah Even even like some some old-school coaches who have had him before have told me he's such a nice guy He means well. He's just late sometimes. He's a little bit of a space kid that nice guy not a bad teammate And I'm like what happened in Dallas? Did something happen in Dallas? Did he just went from like that to now he's signing two months into free agency for nothing Zach They're like there's a long list of teams didn't want him back the rock. It's tried to trade him for a year Like and you said the Mavericks gave up the first on pick they gave the lace for a late first on pick And four guys they did not want at the end of the roster true. I was like that was a frost and listen They screwed up what they did with those roster spots, but the primary motivation for that tree was to create the roster spots And Jason kid never wanted him He never wanted him and you can blame j kid for poor communication I think that's you can have some fair criticism a kid on that But the Mavericks asked Christian Wood to be a bench scorer Would and really more so the people he listens to Consider that to be some great insults, right? So he's a max player, right? You know, I'm like dude. That's what the entire league sees his Potential ads like do here's the thing. It's it's I feel for him in this sense If he would have Embrace that role. Okay. Hey, I'm gonna be the best bench scorer in the league Cool six man of the years a great goal for me He'd gotten at least the middle level. Oh, he I think you would have gotten like four years 75 million right But you you know, you've already got this rep as you say I he's not a bad dude. He's a nice guy He's not a bad dude. He's a doofus. There's a difference but Every coach he has seems to be very eager to move on from Um, you know punctual out. He's been a big problem in the past minor saying it's not so much in Dallas But the meeting started at 1015 in the hotel room. He was you know, he was Grabbing breakfast in the room at 1015 that sort of thing, but it's just the Like I always say his his most frequent defensive stance Is a shrug in a bewildered look as the balls going through the basket is trying to figure out how exactly he screwed up that rotation I think that got worse last year for whatever reason I think that was there was a regression from where even he was coming into the season defensively in terms of just awareness schematically He had a five or six games stretch earlier in the season Where he was pretty dialed in they were using him at center He had like some big shoplocking games and some high leverage and shop lock against yeah Against the Lakers in LA some late game shop like you are two minute reports that it was a foul But hey it went down as a game went in block it counts um, but Like I said him and him and kid was just it was shorter like all you knew that A week into the season the mavericks blew a 16 point lead In the last four minutes and lost an overtime to Oklahoma city And j kid post game basis said hey You know people want to see christian woodclosin Well, we put them out there with the clothes in line up look what happened Like wow You know, if there was any wonder about whether this thing was going to work it was You know it You could figure it out right then and then the mavericks They definitely put out there. Hey, we're going to discuss an extension with We see wood but not not more than two years. You know, we talked about that at the time. I reported it I meant your report Well, I've come to find out that was a bluff and they figured he wouldn't take the bluff right Well, we'll put out because they were trying to kind of keep things like peaceful I would say So I'll put out there. We want to talk two years because he's not going to take that now what would happen if uh If christian wood and his agent adam pin sack who Shrewd negotiate by him to get that player option on the minimum deal Um, what would have happened if they would have called that bluff. I don't know. We'll never know Um, I think the mavericks would have signed the contract to be honest with you Depending on when it was it if it was a December It was it was yeah, I think they would have signed it. I think it would have signed a two-year 30 whatever contract He became eligible for the extension the first game. He was eligible uh Extension eligible was christmas day That's when the lakeers were in Dallas and he had great game. He had 30 point like 30 and stuff the box score uh played really well fans love the guy because he Score and a lot of different ways He just doesn't ever make his team better And even as great as he is as as as a score When you look at one big line-ups the mavericks were much better offensively and defensively with white pal on the floor Then with christian wood and it's hard to make sense of that because You watch like what how can that be it's just the it's a simple fact in matter I say this respectfully to both cockroaches and Dwight Powell Dwight Powell is an mba cockroach man. You could not stamp that guy out I'm sitting here previewing the Dallas mavericks in my head the right and down line-ups my god damn it He's going to be their starting center again. Now. I think there'll be some open competition I think the coaches there would like there to be perhaps some open competition for that spot Between him and maybe version homes. They like the lively kid if I doubt he'll be ready for that kind of responsibility Clebo they'll toggle between both positions They have some nice front court versatility in Dallas with Grant Williams and Derek Jones Jr They can do a lot of funky stuff And that's my Dwight Powell Remark yeah, I did christian wood will help the lakers look though what the lakers have now is a guy who Who now knows you would hope that there would be some self-awareness from both christian and his people the whole league has now sent a message Yeah, you're not you're not only are you not a max player you are now a minimum player on what is essentially you hope a one-year deal And approve it deal you're on a team that is not going to tolerate anything less than then full commitment to Defense and winning that's how the lakers won their title defense That's how the lakers saved their season and rebounded last season defense their offense was never very good Their half-court offense was never any good at all regular season or playoffs Even if you parse the numbers with lebron and ad on the floor It wasn't very good some of that maybe was lebron's foot injury that happened against dallas I believe in lingered All the way through the season and the playoffs But they make their bones on defense that means they need his skill set But if he takes too much away from what they're really good at he's just not going to play that much um And before we leave the lakers, I didn't want to ask you like what what do you what do you make of the lakers because When I talk to people around the league about projecting the west and who's a real title contender You know obviously denver is the favorite you hear a lot of talk about phoenix There's all of this sort of warriors sheen from the title two years ago deservedly so and then interesting the chrispall Trade and how that's going to fit I don't For a team that made the conference finals and yes, they got swept and as you said As you've coined on my the hoop collective they won the bronze broom for a competitive sweep congratulations um in the conference finals You don't I There seems to be sort of a befuddlement of what exactly to make of their team both How real was their run last year after trading rust and sort of reorienting the team and discovering how good rives really was And even after an offseason that was pretty universally lauded ending with this christian wood signing You just don't hear a ton of like oh man that team is is feared and even you look at the overunders It's denver phoenix then a three or four-win drop to warriors Lakers clippers grizzlies kind of all bunched together What's your take on that? I mean, I think that you have to respect them as a team that's going to have a chance But there's somewhere in that you know, I agree it's the nuggets are on their own to your And then I would say sons warriors and the lakers are somewhere at the top of that next one Um, and obviously you got warriors definitively above the lakers even though the lakers beat them in the playoffs last year Definitive leaves probably too strong probably too strong, but the biggest question with the the lakers to me is LeBron of a d's health like how many games are they playing or they're gonna be healthy come play if they're healthy come play off time They're going to have a chance. I mean LeBron is still I don't care how old he is He's still one of the most dominant forces in the game when he's healthy uh a d that the postseason he had defensively was I mean unbelievably impressive Austin Rees is an ascending talent and I think he can be uh an all-star type of of talent And then you know, we'll see even if he's not an all-star type of talent if for this coming season Austin Rees is what he was last season, but 10% better if he is their version of But but better than this player if he's like Prime Nick Batoum, but a little bit better offensively and a little bit more aggressive offensively I think this team can contend like if they're healthy I think they're an inner circle contender and I understand that if they're healthy is the caveat that they face more than everyone else because LeBron's His age and he's number now number two all-time in minutes regular season and postseason number one and postseason minutes by a mile a d is always Nicked up somehow I believe in what they did last year. I think it was real I picked the Warriors to beat them in the playoffs because I thought the Warriors were just kind of a more diverse Just a little bit more of a snappier more reliable offense All of could spread the Lakers out in ways that would trouble them and they they straight up Physically beat the Warriors up in one that series. I'm glad you mentioned a these defense because I just I went crazy on get up during the playoffs because every day that aid every time a d would score like 22 points or less There would be this like I want this guy to average 35 became he had 40 in game one Where is that guy and I'm like I said I said like can we can we talk about defense for a minute? Like is that even allowed he's been the best defensive player in the postseason period here is postseason numbers 23-14 two and a half assists three blocks on 52% shooting 22 and a half is not enough he needs to score more than that In the regular season the average 26 a game Shotted a little bit better his usage rate in the playoffs fell from 28% of his team's possessions to 24% 24% would be his lowest usage rate since his rookie year in the regular season and his lowest in the playoffs by far something did get lost in terms of Finding him touches and if you look at the numbers One of the things that got lost was the Lebron ad two-man game in the regular season 18 pick and rolls per 100 possessions Lebron and ad in the playoffs that felt at 10 And that's despite ad playing center essentially full-time with the lane semi-free for him now Excising Vanderbilt from the starting five would really free the lane for him and I didn't think they just went to that well enough when Vanderbilt was off the floor And I don't think Vanderbilt will start this year um Part of that might have been Lebron's injury and just sort of like an inability to just say this is my game I'm gonna control it the way I want something was definitely lost Offensively from ad but if you look at the last two rounds of the playoffs Just the the warrior series in the nugget series 24 a game 14 rebounds three assists two and a half blocks that's tied for 10th in scoring over those last two rounds Behind Jalen Bronson only played five games Yokech Devon Booker Kevin Durant Jason Tatum Steph Curry Lebron Embed Jamal Murray tied for 10th with Jimmy Butler. It's not like he vanished. He had some big games in that run I like this team a lot. I think they're deep Um, I think Reeves will get better. I like what they did in the offseason to me their story is Their half-court offense has to be better Part of that is ad part of that is health part of that is Lebron. I buy them as a contender. I like their team Yeah, I think that's fair um, I mean They did just playing the West Finals Well and speaking of that series they have the disadvantage that every other team in the league has which is I just don't like With all due respect as as I've told Richard Jefferson any sentence that starts with all due respect is not going to end well Respectfully with all due respect to Jackson Hayes I just don't know what their answer for Yokech's because it wasn't Anthony Davis in the coming days Like but like he said who who does have that? Well, he beat the hell out of Anthony Davis so badly that they decided both To protect him and to try to help their defense to use it ad as a rover off Aaron Gordon and guard Yokech with Hachimura and sometimes Lebron and Despite Rui Hachimura almost solving the riddle in game one Yokech figured that one out Mike and he just are Michael Malone really like that that little Temporary narrative didn't he he did he enjoyed that um, but that but that's like everybody has that problem because the answer can never be Double team him every time he gets the ball because you're going to lose the and the heat actually were pretty good Fronting doubling mixing courage is that's the only answer but like If ad is is not a big part of that answer then I but that's but every team has that problem That's every team if ad is not the answer if band matter bio is not the answer like I don't think there's an answer What but that's the reality like every Every half decade in the NBA has a couple of players like this That's just the reality for every team in the western conference you either You don't have an answer so you either have to cobble Something that can last for four wins or outscore them I mean that and that's what Yokech has ascended to is all of these teams that want to win Have to have an eye on Denver in their off-season transactions. They have to do something try to do something And for golden state it's We still think we can go five out with Dremond at center and spread them out to a point that Yokech is hurt defensively And Dremond can stand him up in the post and like we there's proof of concept for them now Denver was without several key players in that series But still anyway, that's the lakers We were supposed to get to Dallas. We can save Dallas for another day, but a little Dallas I like Dallas's team. I just the West is It's gonna be tough. I like their team real quick. You like them and you would pick them to finish wearing the West Well, that's the thing. I mean if I'm if I'm If If I'm going through the teams, let me go through the overunders because that's an easier way than last year's standings If you told somewhere between like fourth and ninth, I mean that's the but that's the reality for all of these teams is like Memphis They've got some issues the clippers always have issues The Kings are not going anywhere. The Timberwolves are gonna be better this year the thunder are gonna be better this year the Pelicans If knock on wood Zion is ready to start the season and I think Zion is gonna be ready to start the season Like everybody's trying to win Except San Antonio who just got the generational guy in the draft even the Rockets are trying to win. So You know, I don't think Dallas is sealing Is super super high just because Everything goes back to who's the third best guy on the team and you start to answer that question But I think their floor if they're healthy if Luke is healthy in particular is is pretty stable Despite despite the floor I was gonna say collapsing They ended up in they ended up in the basement last year. So We shall see what do we got to look for to you to make man other than Dealing with the ongoing harassment from Tim bontems on the hoop collective podcast Oh, man a few more weeks of the hopefully some Quasi summer and then off we are to You know to the media days and then back to the grind. I'm just trying to Enjoy just a little bit of downtime here. What's the best media day this year? I guess this is really an easy answer The best media day just the spiciest most fun media don't stay You think so yeah the whole CP3. I'm sweet mean. I'm supposed to come off the bench thing if I'm that starting I'm not departing. It's it's Philly. It's gotta be Philly. Yeah, you're right about that and then look also what's gonna be Like is is damn still gonna be technically on the blazers roster come media day. I don't know Tim McMan second to none we love you Hopefully I'll see you at an NBA arena soon my friend last time I saw you we were We were in we were in Denver Yes, there was a lot of there was a it was a late night and there was wine Never during the finals and a bartender who did us a favor in staying open a little later than they were supposed to Big low post ain't apparently. I don't know Tim McMan everybody. Thank you, sir Appreciate it. Yes amigos You can just simply put your own online shop on the right. Oh, I can't miss it in programming or design Test shop if I kostenlos and bring your business ID erfolgreich in the world gauf shop if I point the straight podcast 23 All right, we talked a lot about team USA congratulated Germany Graduated Serbia We got to talk about the team the beat team USA for the bronze medal Canada finally After years of hype and expectations despite missing jimal muri and some other players who could make their Olympic team won the bronze medal in a thrilling overtime game generally had a fantastic feeble world cup qualified for the Olympics and confirmed for the world For the Oklahoma City Thunder for the rest of the NBA that they have a true blue number one option MVP candidate level superstar in shay gildress Alexander who was so dominant at times Including in the game against the US which Dylan Brooks really won with 39 freaking points made every shot shot 59% from three Holy smokes the grises are like where the hell was that shay gildress Alexander was so dominant that at times you could see him Iing defenders Oh, it's cam johnson this time. Oh, it's Walker Kessler dropping back in the pick and roll It's open kill bridges. I got to get a little tricky here and just dissecting With a cold Calculated cruelty bordering at times unlike this is gonna be too easy tyrie's halibur and this step back It's gonna be a lot of fun over your face Canada's going to the Olympics Blake Murphy of sports net does a little blue jays little raptors People are saying this is the biggest moment in the history of Canada basketball is this true our people into it Is the country into it or is the world cup there like it is here where it's like you have crazy people who are into it And then you have regular people who are like what's happening where in the world what happened? So I wouldn't say it's the biggest moment just yet certainly in the last 20 plus years You know the raptors winning the championship counts as a Canadian basketball moment The high water mark is probably in 2000 at the Olympics when Steve now young Steve Nash and Canada beat Yugoslavia Who were the number one ranked team in the world at that point? That's probably the high water mark But yeah, it's a huge deal like we First of all Canada's never done this they'd never gotten to a world cup semi final before let alone metal first time qualifying for the Olympics on the men's side since the year 2000 So there's a lot here And yeah, I think Canada probably leans closer to the US where I've had to spend a lot of the lead up to this tournament and as it was going being like no Hey, it's a bigger better more difficult tournament than the Olympics It is an Olympic qualifier, but coming in third in the world cup is a really huge deal to So yeah, I think a lot of people are really excited for Olympic basketball now because You know North America centric and we've been conditioned on the hockey side that the Olympics is the biggest thing on the calendar So there's real excitement for that But for anyone who's you know been a Raptors fan been a Grizzlies fan been a Canada basketball fan over the last 20 years This is huge like people were I haven't seen the ratings yet But based on what my Twitter was like what Responses into the Jays radio show that I was doing was like these games were on at like 445 in the morning And everyone was watching like the same audience that I'd normally see Online when there's a Raptors game or something like that people were tuned in by the end um Who are the biggest names that could realistically join so the the Canada's team this this tournament went seven deep and legit good NBA players um And that was pretty much it um Who are the biggest names that could realistically play in the Olympics? I I mean jimal muri's the obvious one Wiggins has had a sort of on again off again relationship with team Canada Who am I like I don't think Brandon is Brandon Clark ever I think he played is he ever played He I can't remember if he ever has I think he's come out for camp before at least He's on the team Canada like official web page along with like a 900 other guys who have just at least had a Whiff of interest, but who else do we need to keep our eye on so jimal's the big one obviously You know you saw in the game against Serbia where Canada just really could have used an extra ball handler And I mean anyone can use someone as good as jimal muri. You don't need to overthink it The tough part to figure though is going to be that three years ago or two years ago now Canada basketball sat down with all of their players and there was a summit in Vegas after they had failed to qualify In the last chance qualifier in Victoria, British Columbia There was a bit of a Canada basketball summit a summit down around summer league And I only found this out because I was on a commercial flight with Zach Edie on the way back And there was a seven foot four seven foot five guy trying to fit into a normal chair And I was like, what are you doing? He's like, oh, there's a Canada basketball thing So what they did was they asked for three year commitments from everyone thinking a big part of why Canada basketball Has not come through on the international level in the past is trying to America style throw teams together on short notice rely on talent over fit and chemistry You know, the coach was changing all the time Um, and and Canada has never really until this world cup done a good job building a schedule with lots of exhibition games Like this year they played Germany twice in Spain and the Dominican Republic and New Zealand on the ramp up So they hadn't done that in in the past so they sat down and they asked all these guys for a three-year commitment Including Nick Nairs ironically But so of that list of the guys who weren't there There aren't a lot of NBA names on there so the NBA names who committed and weren't there were Ken Birch Oshae Brasette Cory Joseph and Jamal Murray So you look at that list and like other than Jamal maybe those names don't move you a ton But there's going to be an interesting decision here now the Canada's made the Olympics because a guy like Wiggins is going to put his hand up and want to play I would think Brandon Clarkson guy who I mean Canada's big man depth was so lacking in this tournament Even though they got through like there's a I think there's a risk of cutting off your nose despite your face If you draw a hard line in the sand. Oh, no, that's cutting off your face despite your face If they want to come Let's go this is the Olympics come on bring it in Europe and you're a big wing who can do a lot of things You're another big man come on in. We forgive you. That's the tough thing. They're going to have to deal with now is like Look, I think the seven NBA guys that were there If they put their hand up and want to play in the Olympics Those guys have a spot on the team But the spot where you know Melvin edgium who I love and has been a big part of this program But like he was a fringy guy in this tournament. He'll be 33 next the Olympics like Do they let someone like Clark come in and bump him from a roster spot or like there's a wave of young guys as well Andrew Nembart, Benedict Matherand Chaden Sharp like if those guys who obviously are rookie coming into league can't make that three offseason commitment It's just impossible for them if those guys put their hands up, you know, what do you do with that? So there are some tough decisions here to make because they asked for this commitment and this was part of it was like you'd have The first crack at it But I think this tournament showed even though they were very successful They need another ball handler in there. They definitely need to improve the depth at the four five positions I think they have to You know loosen loosen the language on hey, this is the core 14 a little bit Yeah, if he's healthy. He's obviously Brandon Clark coming off in Achilles tear He's healthy and he wants to play and he should be healthy I mean the Grizzlies are expecting him to return at some point during the season I think that's an old brainer because it's not like Brandon Clark comes in and interferes with your flow or your chemistry He's gonna set screens dive to the rim dunk the ball hit floaters and play hard on defense in any scheme you want That's an easy fit. I love Nebhart as as just same thing He's gonna come in and not interrupt your flow at all. He's gonna fit right in Mathurin is interesting. I thought of him to Because he's gonna want the ball and he does a lot of stuff like the ball and Could be I mean like you don't want to just not invite talent because they need the ball a lot But that'll be interesting because I gotta tell you We're not talking about it down here quite as much because It's the World Cup and the US audience doesn't care that much about it I think what Shay Gilges Alexander has done is one of the biggest NBA stories of the offseason because You see these guys sometimes who have breakout you who make the leap from fringe all star to I mean he was fifth in MVP voting. I believe this past year first team all NBA and It there's this this sort of like delayed cognitive dissonance about it like wait a second was that do we do we now Consider that player in that stratosphere or is he really somewhere in between And kind of caught lightning in a bottle last year on a team that needed him to do everything Like how real is that and I think what he did in the playoffs in the in the World Cup is like Not only was that all real not only am I that freaking good I might actually be better than that and still on the upswing of my career Like he was so dominant and it times looked so effortless Like just a couple of examples from the Barnes Metal game There's a place bringing the ball up and semi transition on the on the left-ish wing And you see Cam Johnson in front of him He's like this is easy pickens for me backpedaling Cam Johnson good player And just accelerated then hesitation dribble up for a floater foul like he knew exactly like four dribbles before He knew exactly what he's gonna do There was another play second half. He had Tyree's Halliburton on him semi-transition again the US couldn't get the matchups the way they wanted and he just Everyone shoot away And just like I got this step back broke Tyree's Halliburan's ankle easy Walker Kessel was dropping back and picking roll and he just he saw it And he's like this is this is all right. That's what I'm gonna do Accelerate around the screen going right Cross over with such explosiveness to his left That it almost made you be like Because you think of him as this crafty herky jerky player and he is But part of the reason that he is that is because when he decides to hit the gas He can hit the gas with almost anyone in the NBA He was so freaking good and so in control I mean the US is throwing double teams at him at half court and he's just like you take it you to I if I'm a thunder fan and I if you haven't been paying attention thunder fans To me this whole summer was SGA announcing oh Not only was it real there's like more coming There was a play too in that US game he ended up getting called for a travel But just like the ability to burst and control through a trap as he was driving and it was just like I don't know it was very he's a knuckleball out there It's just like it's really hard. I guess it would be the way you said it with the burst too It's like yeah, but if a knuckleball a guy could throw it at like 95 sometimes too It's it's pretty ridiculous and obviously the surface level stats Say a lot on the road right like he averaged 25 six and six or something like that He did it on like 67% true shooting so it wasn't You know chucking or anything like that. I think the only two guys the average more free throw attempts than him Were two of the best players in the world and Luca Dunchitch and rendez hall is Jefferson To absolute superstars. Obviously, so Yeah, Kobe Kobe 2.0 and international play and that's that's not being facetious brine went towards the whole story about how he modeled his game and his look at for Kobe now Yeah, it's and hey, I got to know him a little bit when he was in Toronto It's fun to see him to get to do that The other thing about Shay too is like you look at these games individually and you know that France team really ended up underwhelming us But game against France really like the top five ranked country. He's the best player on the floor no question They play against Spain and they have to do this dramatic second half comeback He's the best player on the floor against Spain. He goes up against Luca Luca was the best player in the tournament maybe But Shay was the best player in that game and took over late He didn't have the best Serbia game like bugged out of it. Probably outplayed him in that one But again against the USA like no question who the best player on the floor in that one is You know, I thought there was Phoebe was never going to do this But I did think there was a small chance he'd be the rare Don't win the gold medal and win the tournament MVP because he was just so outstanding and I mean it goes without saying Giving Canada's guard depth any time he hit the bench They were a disaster and that's not a knock on Phil scrub or trade ball Haynes or anything like that But Shay was just so so important that he was you know They were even managing his minutes in first half so that he play 18 and a half at a 20 minutes in the second half He was tremendous and like he's such a He's a soft spoken guy so it doesn't come through until the Instagram captions or whatever But he was a real leader for that team too. You see in the huddles as Jordy Fernandez is trying to you know Command those huddles Shay's at the forefront of that and you know this team went how he went offensively in like More than just his his scoring and assist prowess I literally could not have been more impressed with Shay guilders Alexander and I thought the I was I don't know how you feel about this I thought the thunder coming off of last year's chase season should have been a little bit more like hey Maybe now's the time maybe we don't rent our cap space out for seconds and now coming off of this I'm like yeah, get this guy more pieces now. I know they have a nice young core and there are pieces around it But I want to see more I want to see playoff Shay now Well, they made the play in and shortly before I left for vacation I had Andrew Schleck from the athletic on we did a deep dive on the thunder I would encourage any thunder people that are interested that missed that to listen to that We went deep on the roster who's gonna get cudd who's gonna stay the future of the team chat home grin fitting in They they Obviously our team to watch both on the court and transaction wise because at some point They are going to make a big win now move. It's not an if it's a win Um a couple of things. I do think Luke. I made fun of his whining with Tim McMahon before I mean the whole world is now made fun of his whining. I do think he was the best player in the tournament um Dylan Brooks So I had a 10 things item maybe in the middle of the last season when the Dylan Brooks discourse was really getting ugly And it all it was was featuring him Coming off a screen on the left side of the floor catching the ball set play and bouncing a pass To Brandon Clark. I think who was a screener for a dunk It was like the side of the floor was clear. It was a design play and the reason I highlighted that play was Dylan Brooks I wrote this in the thing like the guy is Modulated the right way is a good NBA player He has not modulated himself the right way in Memphis at least due to his shot selection and just he just missed every jump shot last year but That I think blinded people to if he just were in the right place And picked his spots to score He's not a bad pastor when he just makes this simple easy read like that Defensively he's legit like his off ball defense his ball denial is relentless his on ball defense is Obviously he fouls a lot, but he's a very good defensive player. I believe he made all defense last year He was not on my ballot, but he was close. I thought he deserved it fine like he's a good player and His ducking of the media during the Laker series was embarrassing and he was was Justifiably roasted and criticized for that I don't know where the leak came from where it was like Memphis has no interest in resigning Dylan Brooks I don't I'm not saying that to protect anyone. I don't know. I didn't ask. I don't care It was a little bit ugly the guys a good player now. I do think Houston overpaid for him He was in a role in Canada where he got to shoot a lot A lot of them were clean looks off passes from Shay, which is fine I was happy for him now he leans all the way into the nonsense with the sneering the mean mugging the boxing gloves and all that stuff It's just like you you are allowed to just play you are allowed to just play Got thrown out of a gate ridiculously by the way these fever refs have thinner skin than whatever the thinnest skin to animal and the animal kingdom is Just let a guy make a mean face at you But you I just if you could just play I think people would like start to like Dylan Brooks again Nikhil Alexander Walker's another guy. This is a deep cut He was fine for him. It wasn't great. He was okay I never understood. This is a very deep cut. I apologize Why Portland got him in the CJ McCollum deal And you're like oh, that's that's like a nice flyer that that's like a smart flyer for a team to take a spark of that deal And then a day later dumped him to Utah for Joe Ingalls who was injured and not an expiring contract I was like I just never understood that love why and he was like pretty good in Utah and pretty good in Minnesota who resigned him anyway Any other candidate stuff that we should be talking about any other players any other Perspective you want to shed on this this run to what should be as I said with Tim Alloted Olympics in 2024 in Paris. Oh, it's gonna be so much like Dylan Brooks was so good that LeBron James has to be like no I can't stand for this. I have to be on this Olympic team and put Dylan Brooks back in place No, I think Dylan Brooks obviously is kind of the big winner for Canada in this one and he was like I think he had a true shooting percentage like 76% in this tournament too like he's not gonna shoot like that in the NBA But it was awesome to see No, I think the other the other name of note for me from this tournament And this is Raptor centric two is Jordy Fernandez did a tremendous job coaching in that tournament I didn't think he had the best game in the game. They lost to Brazil But they also dealt with Shay RJ and Kelly olympic all having probably their worst game of the tournament at the same time But the buy-in that he's been able to get from them the way he was able to come in quickly after the Nick nurse change And kind of hit the ground running with that group all the players spoke really really highly of working with him We know that Jamal's a big fan of him as well from their Denver days So I look at him, you know, a guy we've heard his name come up a couple times as a coach of the future a guy who went deep into the interview process with the Toronto Raptors And a guy who is committed to this Canada job through the 2024 Olympics I think if you were looking at you know, stock up stock down from this tournament He's got to be one of the bigger winners too because you know, he's still young But I think that made at Lisa decent case that yeah, he could be ready to get a shot sometimes soon He's gonna be a head coach in the NBA. I know Jordy pretty well. He's a good coach He's good at the non basketball aspects of the job too I had another assistant coach. I know in Sacramento. We were shooting the breeze one day before a game Talking about the revamped staff under Mike Brown who brought Jordy Fernandez in um This coach was telling me He's a young ambitious coach was telling me like I just attacked Jordy is so good I just attached myself to Jordy. I'm just saying no. I'm like his room or a fish everywhere. He goes. I go Every meeting he's in. I want to be in every conversation as with a player I'm there because I want to learn Because whatever this guy is doing it works talk to me about um RJ Barrett 17 points a game 53% shooting 37% on three. It's a certain segment of fans even in New York That are always left a little bit cold by RJ Barrett and I get why He kind of just is what he is He's Picking his spots. Sometimes his three's going in. Sometimes it's not Sometimes is catching gold bulldozer drives work sometimes they don't he He I think ideally in I guess the ideal early vision frame was someone who would have the ball quite a lot in the NBA He's not quite good enough to have the ball a lot So he has to pick his spots in other ways and he's not sort of tailor made as an off-ball player Defensively he's sometimes good not great sometimes just okay Even within this tournament watching Canada there were games where it's like oh RJ's doing What they need him to do in other games where I was like well? I kind of haven't noticed him in 15 straight minutes of a basketball time What's the what's the temperature check on him? Yeah, I feel pretty similarly I thought he had despite the nice scoring numbers in the three knockout stage games I thought he had kind of an underwhelming tournament I thought when they lost not just Jamal Murray, but Cassius Robertson who would have filled in in some of those Backup kind of combo guard minutes I thought okay, well RJ or Nikhil one of those guys is going to basically be the de facto backup point guard now They run they run a fair amount of the offense to Kelly o'Linnick So you don't maybe need that guy, but I thought RJ would take on a little bit more of the playmaking duty and kind of secondary handling Especially like the the late stages that at US game when they were trapping Shay So high up the floor and it was Dylan Brooks that they were turning to not RJ to be the kind of release valve and operate the four on three underneath the trap And look RJ did a good job in that game scoring and kind of Taking advantage of the holes that that Dylan and Shay were creating certainly didn't have a bad game in that one But I thought he had certainly at times where he was not particularly noticeable I mentioned the Brazil game He was like I couldn't tell you a thing he did in that game and like on either end of the floor And it's look he's he's not inexperienced obviously He's the second youngest player on this Canada team But he's also like he led Canada to a U19 gold and a huge upset of the US in the semi finals in that tournament Not very long ago. He has some fever polish and I just I had kind of higher expectations for Where he'd find his role especially offensively with this team and you know He got there a little bit in the knockout stage games But it was it was a little too up and down and you know The Brazil game is is nobody's fault a lot of guys had rough goes But yeah, I thought that there were times where they really could have used the big RJ game and and didn't get it And that's uh that's unfortunate But I think you know him being a part of this core and having so much fever equity with with this group and Him and Shay and Dylan together. I think it'll be fine But I unlike Shay or Dylan Brooks or even a keel. I didn't come away from this one More optimistic about RJ's Nick season ahead. It's just kind of was uh he is who he is and at 23 You want to see more of that like still on the way up signs, I guess I've always been like 15% more bullish on RJ Barrett than most people and I don't know Do you have a lefty bias as well? I don't know No, I my envy of lefties maybe if anything makes me hate to like dislike them more. I wish I were left-handed My daughter just injured her right arm and the uh The optimist in me is trying to look at it as like she's got to go all lefty for a little bit Like that summer demar like brushed his teeth left-handed and ate his cereal left-handed and everything I did not you're I did not know that that happened Yeah, that was a whole story one year in training camp was like oh demar needed to work on his left So he did everything left-handed for a whole offseason I like it I like I don't like it as much as my favorite demar wrote demotorosen thing which is the just relentless Unending commitment to the free throw high five just no one No one ever in the history of the NBA As the free throw shooter is as committed to getting all the high fives as demar to the point that as you are mimicking miming When he shoots technical free throws He high fives ghosts because there is nobody there and he does goes through the high fives RJ Barrett Look he's 23 years old he was the I never bought the idea that he was the centerpiece of their potential Donovan Mitchell trade I mean, I think he would have been in the trade probably I don't think Utah was like hell bent on like this is the guy we're gonna This is who we want 23 million 25 million 27 million 29.6 million. I'm cool with that like If the three-point shot gets to another level not even elite just like a little better than it is now I think a lot of his game on offense falls into place And I think he's gonna be a good defensive player. I like RJ Barrett at that money where the CBA is going where contracts are going I'm cool with RJ Barrett on my team Even if he leaves me cold sometimes. Let's do a few minutes on the Raptors because you're here and you're in Toronto and we got to talk about the Raptors um We also have to talk about the fact that the Phoeba World Cup MVP is the starting point part of the Toronto Raptors Dennis Schroeder after the Fred Van Bleet departure um Vegas very low on the Raptors 36 and a half over under uh Pascal siakum trade didn't happen hasn't happened may still happen someday It seems to be kind of dormant right now. He's extension eligible Oji and an obi is extension eligible probably will not take the extension that he's eligible for maybe I may be well I don't know Start to 26 million We'll see what he does. I would assume You they're starting five is gonna be Schroeder and an obi Barnes siakum portal just because I have a hard time Even though Gary trend juniors shooting would be kind of a natural fit with that group It's a pretty hard conversation to get any of those guys to come off the bench That leaves my bench I don't know who the hell is coming off the bench for the scene the only people I'm like sure of are coming off the bench are Gary trend juniors and I guess precious to chew who had a bad year last year, but I have hope for he's extension eligible. I like Jalen McDaniels. I thought was a good signing. I like to see him get minutes Grady dick is he gonna get minutes Chris Boucher still on the team not playing for team Canada I have no idea who their backup point guard is maybe it's just staggering shooter or in an obi This is a bad offensive team last year with bad spacing their defense fell off a little bit from the sort of turnover generating Real arms limbs machine. It had been I had high expectations for them I hit the over hard in my fake betting Ideas, but I don't bet any money on anything. I was wrong Where where are you on this team? I know you're in blue jays mode, but like what what is this team? Yeah, that's I mean that's the question and that's kind of the question We've been building to the last couple of years and why I found how they handled the Fred Van Leaping so Fascinating slash frustrating of you know, okay, maybe the offers weren't there at the trade deadline But you obviously overestimated your potential to resign him or underestimated what someone might do on the market And he's you know another piece that's left for nothing in return Which really hurts because you mentioned it they were not a very good offense last year They were not they were like a bottom five half-court offense And crunch time offense and they just lost their only point guard like their only natural point guard I know Fred Van Blead has kind of like like people have gone hot and cold with him and up and down over the years He is Really good like to lose a guy like that with nothing coming into replace it is only going to make that tougher Even if you you know, even if Fully idealized version of Scotty Barnes would have pushed Fred Van Blead off the ball a little bit more Guess who was your best three-point shooter. So that'll be tough You know, I think this the Arkham thing has Dragged on enough that it creates some of the same questions. You know if you are If they haven't extended him or traded him yet because they're still not sure What are we waiting for how are you still not sure after this much time And until pen is to paper on an extension I'm still imagining that a trade is possible because That's why wouldn't you extend him I would agree with that imagination Yeah, so I don't there's still kind of in this one foot in each lane But like they have a foot in a fast lane that they just don't have the the top speed for so when you said what did you say was 36 and a half Yeah So like I think if they went into the season with this group and we played it out and you told me trades are turned off I would probably take the over there But I think that that number being as low as it is is a nod to there are way more scenarios where Things don't go that great and they make a trade and they're sellers and they're looking further at the future Then there are scenarios where like everything clicks and they win 43 44 45 games like I think A repeat as a play in team is kind of the upside here And if that's your upside like what do you what do you do in that for so I don't know this Pascal thing lasting as long as it has Has been surprising to me. I thought at some point we'd get one or the other Well, I just look at that starting five. Do you agree that that's the starting five or do you see them shaking? And like the spacing is not going to be very good there That's that's going to be pretty tough. I think Half-court offense wise, but you should be pretty good defensively at least then Yeah, I don't know. I think that is the starting five. I think you you have to like Darko's biggest Biggest job is going to be how do you Keep that as a starting five and stagger in Gary trend and greedy dick for shooting and stuff like that When you can't you can't exactly run like a four-man bench unit when you don't even know who those four guys would be So yeah, it's gonna be That side of things is gonna be injury. I can see it coming together more Defensively than I can half-court offense wise right now, but we've seen the limitations of your good defensively and run a lot in transition and it's uh It's a like middle of the pack play in team At this is the point where I should probably mention that the New York Knicks are suing the Toronto Raptors for Hiring away someone in their video department and having that person allegedly allegedly allegedly at the direction of Raptors higher-ups Scrape data from New York's Information database I've read the lawsuit I'm derelict in following up and seeing if there's been any other filings There's been nothing in procedurally. I don't think not that I've seen. I have to say although The concept is tantalizing and scandalous the accusations are like synergy data Like anybody could get that like you wrote a piece on their analytics department and the ghost defender like a decade ago now And that piece 10 years ago from the same front office is or parts of the same front office is way beyond what synergy would let you do right like Synergy is the it relying so heavily language-wise on synergy and this is maybe a benefit of the doubt reading of it But it sounds to me like The guy got hired wanted to take his work with him so you didn't have to redo all your synergy playlists and stuff like that And was just like careless about it and broke some rules that yeah, you should reasonably know were rules But it doesn't sound like the Knicks had a bunch of proprietary stuff that he Left the building with you know what I mean? That was why I never I haven't yet I've yet to dive too deep into it I am interested to see where it goes and I'm sure Adam silver will be asked about it at the Board of Governors press conference this weekend because it's an usual for teams to take their Disputes of this nature if there have really been any disputes of this nature to court instead of to arbitration I'm assuming he will be asked about if not all has gone about it Back to that starting five dispacing is fine whatever. It's not gonna be good. We know that I'm just more interested in like Dennis Schroeder has ball a lot Scotty Barnes has clearly been anointed the point forward point whatever of the future Pascal siakum is not going to be psyched Just sort of set in screens and popping out and picking his spots to bring the ball up and post up like I I'm just interested to see how that balance Works out obviously they've had a version of that with van vleet As the point guard he's just a better shooter than Dennis and I think a little bit more willing to Pass and cut and move and then you have and an obi who just averages 19 points of game in the NBA like he needs to do stuff too I don't uh I The team is just kind of and I am interested to see Kind of where where they go and camp is gonna be interesting like Camps camp is gonna be if nothing happens with siakum And nothing happened with Gary Trent either and I mentioned this last week when he opted in It was reported almost immediately by not me not ESPN elsewhere that an extension was coming never came My theory Is that that deal is waiting on other dominoes to fall or potentially fall or not fall depending on what happens Like they did figure out the siakum thing first and then we'll see what have I but I don't know like what what's your take on that My I was surprised when the initial reporting was that yes an extension is close because you look at Even with the new extension rules and like the new extension rules the 40% bump that you can get now instead of 20% You know, maybe that helps with an an obi But I didn't think it helped with Trent because I thought The impression I've gotten is that Trent and Trent's camp Want too large an extension anyway. So giving them an even higher max potential extension Was a little odd to me. I don't know that You know without seeing and again, this is another guy who's only 24 years old But I thought he was Worse last year than he was the year prior and that wasn't just based on three point shooting cooling off a little bit I thought he regressed as a playmaker and as a defender And yeah, I'm not super eager to give him an extension that has a You know 25 at the start of it or something like that. So I was a little surprised by that reporting in terms of what the team might be thinking I haven't been around them very much while I'm on J stuff so I don't know But my read on it was just Surprise that an extension would be close anyway. I had always gotten the impression that Trent's camp had More expensive eyes that then maybe the Raptors would with him opting in could potentially be a tell that they didn't find What they were perhaps looking for mm-hmm on the broader market like this team is it's just it's gonna It doesn't I don't like the idea that you you got to pick a direction pick a direction You don't always have to pick a direction. It's not always so black and white Even the year they picked a direction they did in part because they were playing in an empty arena in Tampa Bay That place sucked they did such it like I was I got to go down there for a couple weeks and like I know that they did such a tremendous job making Chicken salad out of it, but it was depressing like I I didn't think of it at the time at the start of the year that this could just like be a cloud all year But once it happened I was like oh, yeah, this makes sense like get get out of there guys But even if they don't have to pick a direction even if they can hover in this another world for a couple years while they reorient the roster the way they want it Decisions are gonna come and are coming and On the one hand they they let Fred walk and that's I actually think the losing people for nothing Is sort of an overrated talking point like I think it can be okay To lose people for nothing Um in certain circumstances like I don't I don't sit back lamenting like all the all the trade bounty the Raptors did not get By stringing this along the way they have and then they have the portal picked at the oh San Antonio Which is top six protected in the next three years presumably that obligation is extinguished this coming year And they can sort of proceed from there, but at least for this year they don't really have an incentive to go anywhere near Well, they if they keep their pick they would go all the way to the bottom, but they seem to incentivize trying to win It is just a strange brew and strange brews tend to be shaken up after a couple years. So we'll see what happens Blake Murphy Wendy when is baseball season over are the blue jay is gonna make the playoffs They are currently in a playoffs, but I'm about to start a four game series with the team chasing them So if they have a good week, they're gonna be pretty confident If they things line up perfectly for me personally if they win the wild card series and get knocked out in the Next round because then they'll be done right as Raptors start So that will be tidy for me House Kelly Gruber playing on the hot corner Yeah, he's having seen him around in a little bit It's my only I do all the blue all my blue jays knowledge ends in like 1994 Joe Carter Yeah, it's a little Blake enjoyed the 1990 was that 1993 92 and 93 I was I was like such a hockey only kid at that point. I don't really have any like recollection of it I was also an exposed kid just like to be a contrarian little jerk So I I have I have not much from that most of my my jays stuff like is rooted in like well Roy Howard is the best pitcher in the world and they never ever win So, you know very fitting for Toronto sports in general Great nickname no doc holiday. Oh, yeah Blake Murphy. Thank you for your time on team Canada and the Raptors I'm sure we will be talking again soon enjoy the remainder of baseball season You