Raptors are betting EVERYTHING on Scottie Barnes
20 a.m. on the east coast and I’m not sure who’s more anxious right now Laker fans or Raptor fans because neither team has done anything of consequence to this moment let’s take a quick look we’re going to be talking a little bit about what kind of roster the Raptors are building right now I don’t think they’re done but let’s just say they are done they’re 15 rosters the 15 roster spots are technically occupied right now there is no room for Gary Trent Jr on this roster Gary Jr is basically a homeless free agent right now and yeah you can make a case that the Raptors could free up a roster spot but would signing Garrett Temple to that 15th roster spot taking back a two for one in the Jaylen McDaniels deal with Sasha venkov and also considering the fact that you will not be using a two-way contract for Jamal shed but rather a full contract spot unless of course you’re telling me they’re going to sign Jonathan mobo to a two-way contract which they’re not going to Raptors technically have 18 players under contract which is crazy because their roster doesn’t make a hell of a lot of sense and I’m going to explain that later but let’s take a look quickly let’s do a quick free agent recap what’s happened in the last five hours that we haven’t spoken cheat sheet it’s not a lot not a lot that’s happened Chris Dunn you know going to the LA Clippers the Clippers are trying to Moneyball their way a Paul George right they’re they’re trying to just like whatever the hell they’re doing with Nicholas baton and you know they’re trying to they’re just trying to create Paul George in the aggregate it’s not going to be very easy Paul George is a hell of a player and you know as much as we may think that Paul George is not going to earn his contract in the second half of his contract he is totally worth the money that he signed right now so if it opens up a two-year Championship window with Tyrese Maxi and Joel embiid maybe it will be a gamble worth taking but they do lose the Melton that is a deal that did happen which does not seem to be on this list but it should be oh here it is so DeAnthony Melton of course the one-year 122.8 million contract with the Golden State Warriors he taking a bet bet on himself contract we talked about in the last live largely due to a back injury and you know I guess teams were a little uncomfortable giving him a little bit more than that so to any of us who were saying maybe the Raptor should have gone after De Anthony Melton with a little bit more fervor but I will say this okay let’s Let’s uh let’s make me big and let’s make that small again here’s the thing the Toronto Raptors have the weirdest roster and I want to show you what I mean this is their current roster now you’re going to disagree but trust me trust me I’m a professional Emanuel quickly uh RJ Barrett Bruce Brown Grady dick oai abaji jacobe Walter and Javan Freeman Liberty those are your shooting guards who says the shooting guard position is dead in the NBA the Raptors have a lot lot of shooting guards and frankly not a lot of small forwards honestly if you believe Scotty’s IG bio he thinks he’s a point guard right now uh nba.com thinks he’s a power forward so frankly the Raptors don’t have any the Raptors don’t really have any point guards of consequence because you’re gonna have to convince me that Davon Mitchell is an NBA player right now or a very good one at that who can you know float 10 12 minutes a night I saw him absolutely choke the Sacramento Kings offense last year although he’s a pesky Defender M shed you know probably not exactly NBA ready I’m hearing a lot of you know hey they drafted him to to you know steady the 905 because they’ve really lacked stability in that organization and they’re going to need somebody to really set up ul shamay and I think that Jamal shed will have a really big role in the development of UL shamsh and again the Raptors are known for their archetypes this is a Fred and Pascal wannab be redo you know whatever with those two players so those two are going to spend a lot of time in the G League I expect Jonathan mobo is going to play a ton for the Raptors next year I think he’s going to be you know in the rotation on opening night probably playing you know 10 15 minutes a night off the bench they’ll live with his mistakes I ranted about it on the last live if you think he’s precious aoua you’re blind um he’s gonna be a good player he’s GNA be a good player I’m I’m not denying that he’s going to get some g-league reps but Jonathan mobo is really Jonathan mobo and um jacobe Walter are going to be given large the same courtesy that grd dick was given last year that’s my humble estimation now okay I get it you’re gonna squibble you’re gonna say come on Rob Bruce Brown can play small forward oai abaji can play small forward but the truth is you have 64 Javon Freeman Liberty 64 jacobe Walters 64 oay abaji string bean Grady dick Jr sorry Grady dick I make I don’t know why I made him a junior uh six four Bruce Brown I mean this is Vision 64 now right 62 Emanuel quickley 61 Davon Mitchell 61 Jamal shed 66 Garrett Temple 66 RJ Barrett your players uh I mean technically Jonathan mobo without shoes measured in about 66 as well Scotty’s about 68 so your only players that are technically large apart from your two-way guys are Scotty Barn Sasha venkov um Kelly lenen Chris bue yaka purle this is not a roster that makes hell of a lot of sense let’s try to make it make some sense okay now it makes a little bit more sense we move emanel quickly back to the point guard spot Davon Mitchell Jamon shed uh we move oai iagi uh you know and Grady dick over to the small forward spot because who’s counting we move Bruce Brown from shooting guard to power forward because why the hell not and we move Kelly lenck to the center spot even though he has proven you know for years that he is way more serviceable next to a shot blocking big but sure let’s play guys out of position so we can lose a lot of games if you’re wondering what these colors mean if it’s not obvious uh the colors for me at least mean green is you’re a core piece and I expect you to stay on the roster for the rest of the year and red means I expect you to be traded if anything or waved if anything comes up for you and orange means we like you but we’re not going to quibble if something you know comes up and you need to be moved you’re trade fod you’re there you know Kelly could be traded I know they like him a lot but if the right offer came along for Kelly oen two-year contract not a huge thing I’m sure if some team out there was very very very desperate these guys are all tradable so basically your tradeable contracts are in red and orange the guys that you’re probably going to hold on to and I would you know if you’re investing in a Raptor’s Jersey when they do the Rebrand or drop the Rebrand oops are we not supposed to talk about that yet um that’s going in the green so those are the guys that I expect to be on this team long term Jamal shed Emanuel quickley RJ bear Jobe Walter Scotty Barnes grd dick Jonathan mobo and urri shamay urri shamay I think will be given at least two years at least two years to prove that he has some development chops Jonathan mobo I think he’s goingon to be given like three years to prove that he’s an NBA player and I think he will Grady dick I expect to hold I expect they’re going to hold on to him I think Darko is a really big fan he fits in really well with what they’re trying to do jacobe Walter again as long as dark goes here jacobe Walter is going to have a chance to prove that he has some of that you know next level shooting guard type of stuff in him and he’ll be given a chance you know at some point to really usurp or beat out RJ Barrett in a couple of years for that spot and we’ll see what happens at that point you know a little healthy competition behind you never hurt um but maybe you know all he develops into is you know Norman Powell part two with a little less athleticism and a little bit more shooting that’ be great you know uh if jacobe Walter could become a combo guard that’d be great so at this point the Raptors are carrying out one of the weird the weirdest basketball rosters and it’s not really a basketball roster right now what are they really doing well it’s an asset Farm they have an asset farm this is not a basketball roster this is an asset farm right um Penny Hardaway saying rob what’s up what’s going on man uh happy Monday it’s Tuesday it’s Tuesday bro happy Tuesday um a I was hoping jvon will be orange at least nope uh you mean d oh Javon sorry I don’t know why I mixed Davon and Javon Freeman Liberty into a a a third Raptor Javon great um while the use of okay has Lowry agreed to any deal I wouldn’t mind bringing him back great another guy who’s very small I remember you saying rob basically the second we got him that we should sign IQ to a $28 million deal deal now before he gets more expensive that’s true um I suspected he would do better with the Raptors than he did to be honest I thought he underperformed relative to my expectations but he overperformed the contract which is why I’m saying he we overpaid him but whatever um so I mean Gary Trent Jr again even if you wanted to right now you really can’t sign him you don’t have an open roster spot for him you could say we could wave somebody uh but who are you going to wave you know at this point you’re going to wave Garrett Temple you just signed him I think Chris bue might be a little bit underrated at this point I understand he doesn’t really fit what what the Raptors want to do but I’m really surprised that some team out there does not see the value in Chris buet personally haven’t always been the biggest Chris Buche fan but if there’s someone who really heavily leans into the analytics of Chris bue um his free throw rate is incredible for a backup big he is very efficient from the floor he can shoot a little bit I’m just a little bit surprised that he’s not getting more juice honestly as an expiring contract I expect that he I’m not going to say he’s going to be a hot commodity I’m not trying to sell you that [ __ ] but I think he’s a serviceable player right um Dak Canadian saying would be would B be good for the Mavs I think he’d be good for the Mavs I think he’d be interesting for the Thunder I think he’d be interesting for a lot of teams um and I mean you know again Bruce Brown was horrible last year like really just God awful can he find some juice back right because you know if you’re the Tron Raptors I do expect bece Brown to be moved in the next couple of weeks you know I think we can get a deal maybe around summer league maybe before that hopefully tomorrow I don’t know something of the sort but a lot of teams that were really really pressed for cap space have already cleared those contracts out and Bruce Brown remains a raptor right so at this point what will be the utility of Bruce Brown in all this quote unquote flexibility that the Toronto Raptors have right well I can tell you what I think is it’s going to be and let me just pull up the contract situation um so teams Atlantic Toronto let me share this hang on one sec so right now this is sort of the Raptor’s situation if you will right this does not include some of the newer contracts that have been signed but that’s sort of the situation right now right so what do you do with Chris bue at 10.8 million um starting to get a feeling SL of zenov will be a little bit more of a guy who they want to hold on to I think he really fits well and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him starting I know that that sounds crazy to some people but just in terms of providing some space for what the Raptors want to do like he might be your best bet to do that um it’s going to be a really awkward fit in terms of defense and rebounding but you get a lot of rebounding from from Emanuel quickle RJ Barrett and Scotty Barnes that you can sort of make up for a non rebounding power forward in there plus I mean power forward small forward a little bit fluid so basically Scotty becomes your power forward on defense and your small forward on offense a little bit like that um Sasha’s like pretty good with the pick and pop really good movement and maybe at Power Forward he’ll have a little bit more success because he’s not really very athletic and he is very smart and he’ll have some advantages power forwards will have to get out you know out of the paint to guard him so right now really if you’re the Raptors you’re dangling Bruce brown right obviously you’re dangling um Bruce Brown Chris bue that is a combined 33 million so there’s going to be a team at the deadline or before that at some point that is going to decide that the season has not worked out the way they wanted it to work out and they’re going to want to rebuild and they’re want and they’re going to do what teams that really want to tank usually do which is they’re going to want to run they’re going to want to get she they want to get they’re going to want to get cheap and they want they’re going to want to clear some cap space for the next summer and likely what they’re what they’re usually going to do is they’re going to shed some long-term salary or they’re going to shed some Talent or they’re going to shed both in the same player right now I’m not talking necessarily of Zack LaVine but because the Raptors will have that flexibility of players who kind of fit but players who aren’t going to move your bottom line too much they don’t have a superstar they’re going to to trade I do think that at some point you will be able to take on maybe I say a star definitely not a star but a good player like a really good player or a big contract attached to a good young player something of the sort the hopes of getting a draft pick are probably going to be a little bit higher if you do the deal now right um um Damen plow saying I don’t hate Bruce Brown at all I’m a big follower of Denver and know what he’s capable of if he knows his role and expectations but if we can get another big name to Toronto would help us too okay how would jonte have fit into the lineup um jonte Porter would be interesting and probably would negate some of your need for someone like Sasha penov but nevertheless jont Porter did have a very very troubling injury history as well and I feel like because he was relatively healthyish for the Raptors um we don’t think about that too much but there’s a world in which he doesn’t play a single game for the Raptors because yeah uh M Mo saying do you think the Raptors are going to bring back Jordan War they don’t have a they don’t have uh they don’t have a they don’t have a roster spot right now that’s the troubling part they don’t have a roster spot these aren’t exhibit 10 deals that they’ve signed right like these are two-way slots like they’re going to sign unless they’re planning on putting urri sham overseas right they’re not losing this kid like I’m I’m getting this weird Bruno Vibe again like they really want to pour two three years into this kid I have a feeling he was a lot higher than 57 on their board like again heard Rumblings about it three months ago that they really like this guy I started mocking him to the to the to the 2K in 2K I started putting him on the Raptors and honestly I just didn’t like him I didn’t like him and then I didn’t hear anything about it for three months and I was like okay it was nothing it was Scuttle but you know people often assume that the Raptors are interested in every African Prospect I was like man after the Bruno disaster like are they going to invest in someone this raw again and especially when we started hearing rumors about him potentially going first round I was like there’s no way in hell they’re going to take him at 19 they don’t have another pick so I kind of just ignored but when he started falling down that draft board I was like okay um infitech saying what happened with u shamsh in the 2K simulations usually I waved him after two years because he was trash honestly I think he was like 63 rated and he became at best 67 rated let’s hope real life rri shamay is much better than 2K rri shamsh because I tell you that guy was ass uh what’s making you feel like you don’t like him so here’s the thing I do like him that’s the crazy thing I do like him it’s just a really really big Far Cry bet to be good right you’re going to pour a lot of money and you’re not going to see any results on that money until he’s up for a contract so if he turns into Clint capella you lose this deal if he turns into Giannis well I won’t say you lose this deal if he turns into a Serge Ibaka Clin Cella level player I would say you win this deal but anything less than that you probably lose this deal because again a 21 with the size and frame and quote unquote potential that he has more than likely you’re going to face a very very big you know competing offer for his services at some point if he works out and if he doesn’t work out congratulations you’re starting center in the G league for the last two years has been a bust right I just don’t think there was enough of a body of work um URI isn’t even 19 neither is my nephew I wouldn’t draft my nephew either I get what you’re saying I’m rooting for the kid man I man if it works out for him this is like this is the ultimate Hail Mary right like and and at 57 like [ __ ] wow you know he’s a fluid athlete he he really really enjoys playing physically he likes playing defense he can get up and down the court he’s you know he’s got some that full court potential I was um I was looking back at a couple of emails back and forth that I had with a person who covers the NBA and literally the first email about urri shamsh is a random I think it was like a 480p YouTube highlight and I I was laughing my ass off yesterday when I looked it up because I searched through my email URI sham I just looked up I just wanted to see how many Communications I’ve had about this guy and literally that it says next Giannis question mark and I I um I gotta say I died laughing watching that film because I didn’t see Giannis at all but hey you know know if he turns into a serviceable if he turns into a serviceable big you know great if he turns into nothing it’s fine but yeah I I’m I’m going to hold my breath okay Keaton Donaldson what the [ __ ] is Rob going on about sometimes I don’t even know bro um I will let you know that I will be on playback sorry not playback um players choice on the panel I’ll be on tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. I do have a writing assignment right now so I just want to talk about the you know I want to talk about basically the Scotty Barnes element of this um infitech what do you think is shobe stealing as I mentioned 1% or less than 1% I see a Devon Booker but almost every outcome leads me to believe that he’s going to be a role player um something like Reggie Bullock meets Tim Hardaway Jr like that type of player that’s what I see in him there are moments of his high school tape where I could imagine something grander for him but I’ll I’ll wait and see I’m not I’m not like jumping to any conclusions with him I think summer league will be interesting I think his you know preseason tape will be very interesting to see if you know how quickly they can advance some of his weaknesses nevertheless as I flashed earlier the Toronto Raptors have a roster that looks a little bit like this on paper okay right now and if you’re being completely honest try and count the the number of players that can generate an advantage for themselves off the dribble I’m talking one pick Max or no pick just take their guy off the dribble and generate like collapse double you know who can do it oai is almost completely useless on offense and that is being kind he is almost a non-offensive player who is not a defensive specialist at this point so that’s me being polite and saying unless oai iagi gets way better that’s pretty much a wasted roster spot on a development player who’s 24 25 years old right now okay gr dick is a weak Defender who is very limited it offensively but the thing he does well requires other things to go well for him namely he needs screens he needs you know Advantage generation he can extend an advantage but can he generate an advantage by himself now I’ve seen hints of this in his like high school tape Grady dick taking guys off the dribble you know we see a little bit of that like dribble pullup stuff in him I likened it a little bit to a you know um I’ve likened him to players like Klay Thompson as opposed to guys like Corey kissper for a reason because I do think that he can just take his entire game off of two dribbles three dribbles and it can still be efficient he doesn’t need to play with the basketball like dear de rosan or Kobe Bryant like he can do some good stuff but ultimately I don’t really see this guy collapsing defenses right it’s not Jaylen Brown it’s not Jason Tatum it’s not Drew it’s not even Drew holl or Dereck white like you’ve got so many players on other teams that can do this right daryk Garland plus Don Mitchell right that’s two right almost every team has two or three sometimes four right and that’s when you get in trouble because where is the Raptor’s guy who can generate an advantage consistently can RJ Barrett generate an advantage consistently outside of transition so we’re talking half court that’s where the Raptor offense was really struggling just look at this roster what can Emanuel quickly do off the dribble is there is he some quick twitch athlete is he you know johnar Tyrese Maxi can he just get a steam you know break his guy off the drib and just go into the paint and you know Force double triple teams no no that’s not a manual quickly game a lot a lot of it is just coming off of screens a lot of it is in transition popping up above the break off ball movement okay Davon Mitchell see my notes on o abaji very similar players all defense not very specialist defensively little bit point of attack defense they can pressure the basketball they can probably be disruptive in terms of opening opening up the floor for some turnovers they can play fast because they’re both athletic but again ask them to do anything in the half court and you’re sunk both those guys expect to be minutes guys for you okay Bruce Brown same thing can’t do can do very little off the dribble very limited I don’t think people realize how limited some players are off the dribble like it is it is real like this is the reason why you pay shot creators so much money this is why some people still swear by Kate cuningham or Jaylen green or something like that because shot creation is very important you know and the Raptors are about to find out that they don’t have a single shot Creator on their roster and that’s really scary look at it what is your best hope to generate offense how do you generate offense on this team and by offense I mean how do you you get the defense to shift I mean there’s a version of offense which is a very terrible brand of offense where you come down the court and manual quickly dribbles up the court throws it into yaka purle he cuts off ball he screens away for Scotty Barnes Scotty Barnes pops above the break everything that I have just suggested did absolutely nothing to the defense of any consequence nothing at all there’s no gearing up there’s no weak side rotation there’s nothing like this did nothing so your best bet is going to be okay let’s catch him napping in transition let’s get RJ Barrett going downhill in the middle of the floor let’s catch some team napping and get Grady coming off a screen let’s get you know Kelly oin pop popping up above the break and transition again everything’s going to be transition for the Raptors you and make matters worse you’re going to have a really difficult time getting out into transition because you can’t defend this is not a good defensive team right now okay you can add as many oai baji and Dav Davon Mitchells as you want this is not a good defensive team this is a team with one two three four 5 six seven eight like nine defensive liabilities like these are not great Defenders H that’s nine is Cap Sasha venko is not a great defender he’s probably a capable Team Defender you know Grady dick is going to be a liability RJ Barrett no matter how much better he gets is going to be a bit of a liability I mean can the Raptors be competitive defensively yes are they going to be good defensively like good enough to turn teams over to get out in transition often enough to to offset some of their half court deficiencies kind of like what Nick nurse is doing but yo we were complaining about the offense under Nick nurse right like it was God awful that was Fred Van vet Pascal seak Scotty Barnes Gary Trent Jr say what you will about jacobe Walter he’s a really really interesting young player he’s not better than Gary Tren Jr right now it’s very hard for me to believe that that right now he’s better than TR Jr right SP saying Grady is a Team Defender and a great passer um he is an average to below average Team Defender and not a great passer he’s an average passer for his position like a great passer at his position is um Malik monk Malik monk is a great passor at his position so does this mean all hope is lost no because what you’re going to see is an incredibly difficult brand of basketball to watch but hopefully what you’re going to see is there’s nowhere to go for the Raptors they have to figure this out with the guys that are supposed to figure it out look if you were to put a player who could actually break down the defense on this team he would take over the def he would take over the offense so fast like I can’t even I can’t even express it like if right now you were to put a I don’t know just a guy who can kind of get his own offense a little bit like a mil Bridges right miles Bridges from Charlotte he’s a guy who can just kind of dribble ISO his way into an offensive possession if you would put a Jeremy Grant on this team those guys would take so much usage away from the other guys because the ball would naturally find them because that’s the way basketball works if you’re playing fair if you’re playing a fair brand of basketball asn’t you’re not rigging the offense if you’re good at things the ball will tend to find you where you’re good at things the ball is not going to find Grady dick isolating off the corner you know um six seven times a game because that’s not his strength and that’s not where he’s going to put himself and that’s not where his off his teammates are going to put him in those positions now it’s one thing to have all these off ball pieces you know off ball cutting and stuff there’s there’s a couple of things wrong with this number one we saw teams that do this last year really struggled because once the the once the NBA gets really really um lack about their file calling all this off ball cutting stuff is just getting cut like it’s just getting sorry it’s just getting it’s getting choked right you’re trying to move guys are holding you you’re trying to cut away and guys are holding you you’re trying to cut back door guys are bumping you if the if all of the focus of the officials is on Ball and they’re just letting you get away with murder off the ball then what the Raptors are trying to do is actually really difficult especially without sufficient advantages now what the Raptors have done well let me not be all Doom and Gloom is they’ve gotten rid of almost all their non-shooters consider this Jamal shed is an emerging shooter Davon Mitchell shot 36% from three last last year if I’m not mistaken RJ Barrett was a much improved shooter emanel quickley was a really good shooter Bruce Brown is a bit of a non shooter but he’s going to be more of a big as I showed here so you might be able to get away with it Chris bu again Chris bu and Jonathan mobo I don’t know they get to come out next year and shoot 36% they could shoot 12% I’m not really sure with either of those guys right now Kelly oen is a shooter and the type of spacing big that we’ve always wanted next to Scotty Barnes Brandon Clarkson I don’t know if he’s a Carlson I don’t know if he’s ever going to play for the Raptors or if he’s just going to be you know down in the g- league but he is a guy with shooting potential urri sham is also a guy with shooting potential obviously Jonathan mobile thinks he can shoot Sasha venkov is a lights out shooter Grady Dick’s a lights out shooter jacobe Walter is a lights out shooter so you’ve put shooting around Scotty why because in order to generate an advantage you need space you need space this is what the this is what the Nuggets figured out with Nicole yic this is what the Mavericks figured out with Luca donic if you want to create space for a non Twitchy super Dynamic player right ni yic is not blowing past guys like John marant and you know Russell Westbrook in his prime and guys like this he’s generating advantages through space and if you don’t put space around nicoa yic it’s going to be a very difficult night for nicoa yic the Raptors are doing something very similar with Scotty Barnes but in order for this to work Scotty Barnes is going to have to become like a 95th percentile offensive player and right now per my estimation most of his value is coming through his two-way production like he’s really really good at a lot of stuff but he’s not great at most things so Scotty Barnes is gonna have to become a really really really good to borderline great at a lot of stuff couple things in particular pick and roll ball handling pinch post passing isolation scoring mid-range scoring spot up shooting these are the areas in which Scotty Barnes evolution is basically the entire roster I want you to ask yourself a question imagine this roster right now and the only switch please don’t misquote me when I say this but the only switch is that you replace Scotty Barnes with Luca donic Shay gildas Alexander or Jason Tatum one of those three just imagine a team with Emanuel quickley RJ Barrett and Shay gilders Alexander instead of Scotty Barnes with Sasha venkov and yakob purle you would probably be picking them to be fourth or fifth in the East right maybe you might even pick them to be third in the East that’s the Gap that Scotty needs to make up but if he makes it up Suddenly you have a lot of extend Advantage extenders who are emerging Advantage generators Emanuel quickley is an advantage extender right now who is emerging as an advantage Creator he’s not nearly there yet he’s not nearly the three-level scorer you need him to be RJ is not nearly the three-level scorer you need him to be he’s not nearly the shooter the pull-up threat nearly the guy going left as he is going right nearly the finisher nearly the passer okay so basically everything right now for the Raptors is depending on Emanuel quickle RJ Barr and Scotty Barnes but specifically Scotty Barnes to generate advantages in the half court that’s really what the Raptors are betting on they’ve put everything into this if the Raptors are going to be successful this year Scotty Barnes is going to have to be borderline all NBA and if they’re and if he’s not going to do that they’re not going to be successful this is the ultimate Challenge to your franchise player you’re encouraging him you know I always say that people respond differently to challenges some people fill the shoes you buy them some people shrink in them right Scotty Barnes has been handed a franchise tag I believe of course and this community believes and has always believed that he deserves to be a franchise player in the NBA the Raptors are actually putting their money where their mouth is Right Now by not offering anything of support in case he fails there’s no safety net there’s nothing they are literally banking that Scotty Barnes RJ Barrett and Emanuel quickley can generate halfcourt offense at a reasonable League average rate that will be competitive in a conference which has guys like Joel embiid Tyrese Maxi and Paul George on the same team all of whom by the way all three of those players which means that just gather my thought here the 76 years third best Advantage generator in the half court is significantly better than your best Advantage generator in the half court their best defender is leap years better than your best defender you should not be competitive with the Philadelphia 76ers you should not be competitive with the Orlando Magic the Cleveland Cavaliers probably the Miami Heat bam out of IO right Jimmy Butler you shouldn’t be competitive with Boston Celtics you probably shouldn’t be competitive against a healthy Milwaukee Bucks so you should tank right you should probably tank because this team is really bad right now you lose Gary Trent you replace him with a whole bunch of rookies you don’t do very much right now with your mid-level and I’m not sure even if you did something right now what you would absorb unless there is a massive trade coming now what can fix everything right now and I’m not even trying to say like it’ll fix everything everything but what can make this situation way better if you want it to is a trade with the uh I was going to say New Jersey Nets my child is showing um with Brooklyn Nets and that would be a trade for Cameron Johnson and Dron sharp that I alluded to earlier trading Bruce Brown for those guys I believe that Cameron Johnson provides so much space for Scotty Barnes and RJ Barrett to work off of I believe that the combination of Emanuel quickley and Cameron Johnson can almost carry a three-point shooting load themselves if things work out correctly Grady dig Kobe Walter Off the Bench Davon Mitchell potentially Off the Bench Kelly linck Off the Bench the Raptors could be just a 3point bombing team but you need a guy who’s super high volume to join a manual quickly in that now obviously we could come out we had a game last year where Scotty Barnes took 15 threes and then his entire three-point AR fell off after that Scotty says his three feels better than ever if Scotty Barnes comes out next year and he’s bombing you know 8 N3 a game then your only non shooter really is yaka purle can you play five out with yaka purle little bit yaka Perle is often miscast as a big that he is not yaka Purtle is not Jonas Valen chunis he’s not Zach Edy he’s not any of those guys yakob is an incredibly smart player with no shooting gravity but he’s also not a guy who completely gets in the way he doesn’t demand touches in the post he’s not constantly camped out if you’ve ever watched the New Orleans Pelicans player over the last two three years you’ll understand what I mean when you say yonas funis gets in the way of everything not like JB a lot but yaka purle isn’t like that and that is a very valuable skill set diving constantly cutting back door intelligently moving and relocating away from the dunker spot getting in position for offensive rebounds screening and then cutting away off ball screens multiple screens freeing up Shooters yaka purle is constant motion emotion he is one of the most intelligent centers in the NBA and for that reason he somehow mitigates some of his spacing concerns now obviously if a team just completely wants to ignore him at the top yes you’re going to be able to do that but then yaka Purtle has this really brilliant thing where because he’s not a complete non-sc scorer and he has that sort of floater thing he’ll sometimes just attack the cloth out like a guard or a wing and he’ll just drive into open open traffic and usually he’s pretty successful or he’ll get to the line where he’s not the greatest free throw shooter my point is yaka purle is not nearly as disastrous to your spacing as a Zaki in theory a Zaki a Donovan kingan one of those big post Hub type centers a iita zubas to some extent as well a juli Okafor Andre Drummond guys like this you know guys who want a lot of touches guys who want the ball a lot yakob is more like a post Hub right he is more like operating like a non-shooting version of jic or sabonis right like oh of course not anywhere near the passer that those guys are but that’s the role that he’s trying to fulfill and again from 12 to 14et yako ptle can be kind of respectable so he can work in small doses yaka Perle for 30 minutes a night probably Overkill but yaka purle defensively and plus he is a great defender yaka Perle is a great defender so to those who say yonas valent chunis is better than yaka ptle you’re high you’re on shrooms you’re not understanding the modern game and I apologize but I’m not trying to be rude it’s not that close yakle is maybe not he’s definitely not worth 19.5 million over four years but he’s worth 15 million to someone out there and it could be us it could be us it doesn’t have to be one of those things where we have to move off of him I have really come a long way on yaka purle I think he can function as a part of a pretty good basketball team now at some point the Chona Raptors are going to have to decide and I believe it was in the 21 questions or whatever that the Raptors have and one of the major questions was at what point do you pull the plug on this roster if they come out 20 games out 30 G games out they 10 15 games under 500 they’re 12 games under 500 they six games under 500 what’s the barometer what’s the what’s the marker of success what’s cool for the Raptors is if they decide to keep their roster as currently con constructed which is this or this if they keep it like this They al they also have the ability to get better with this right they have all their picks so let’s just say let’s play the multiple timelines well not multiple timelines let’s play variables okay we cannot say any more than someone can say against we cannot say for that Scotty Barn won’t be an all-nba player next year what if he is I’ve seen players grow so much between 22 and 23 it’s staggering like I’ve seen players come back as two times better type of players if Scotty Barnes gets two times better than he was last year like if he has that type of jump you’re you’re a playoff team for sure and you need to rethink you need to rethink your thinking if he comes out and he’s shooting like 38% from three on high volume you need to rethink what you’re doing as a basketball team because you’re ready to go now like I’m not saying you need you’re ready to compete for championships now but you need to open that window sooner if he comes out and he struggles man quickly continues to struggle with the pick and roll stuff if RJ Barrett struggles with the shooting if he relapses and goes right back to Nick’s version of RJ and suddenly now with a big variable if Grady dick doesn’t take a big jump and again you have all the variables on your roster but none bigger than Scotty because if he doesn’t make that jump nobody else’s jump is big enough to offset the jump he doesn’t make so if Scotty Barnes makes that jump and the Raptors are challenging him they’re saying look we got all these pieces around you they’ll work if you take that jump we’re not putting anyone in the place we’re not giving you a pascal cakam to bail you out we’re not giving you some you know dynamic guard who can create offense off the dribble like keonte George we’re not drafting those types of players we’re not even going to give you a player that you can throw the ball to and defer away we’re not even giving you a Dennis Schroeder this year right there’s there’s nothing it’s Emanuel quickley you RJ Barrett you guys you have it there’s no safety net no vets nothing it’s you guys and a bunch of role players and rookies so either you’re setting them up to fail which is fine fail forward get better take the Reps right because in the end it does matter who’s taking those reps as I mentioned if you replace Scotty Barnes with Luca donic or Shay gilders Alexander here if you replaced an Emanuel quickly with who would you have to be jayen Brunson you know something like that this is a playoff team this is a very good playoff team and that jump can happen very quickly because I’m pretty sure to years ago people weren’t seeing Jaylen Brunson like this and five years ago people weren’t seeing Pascal SE yakum like this and three years ago people didn’t see tyres halberton like this and every time it happens where a player takes a big jump we act all surprised like it’s the first time it’s ever happened and it’s not Tes halberton was a late lottery pick in a somewhat kind of not so strong draft and now people talk about him like he’s an MVP candidate that happened in two seasons right Scotty Barnes secondy year stagnation triggered in my opinion a complete overhaul of the entire Raptor organization they had seen it happen before they saw it happen with particular prospects they knew that they could not lose this Prospect last year was a let’s say last year looked like what year 2 was supposed to look like to them to some extent 28 5 286 that’s kind of what they were expecting in year two so what did year three which is now going to be year four what’s that supposed to look like I think it’s supposed to look like 25 10 and seven that’s an all NBA player if things go right for the Shon Raptors and Scotty Barnes he will be able to generate enough advantages at which point now you will you will be able to add potentially an upgrade at one of those positions and I think that upgrade could be a power forward you know who can generate their own offense maybe you take back you know a more talented player maybe you make a massive you know investment in a better defender or an anchor and at the point that you decide to Pivot away right and I’m just saying pivot away on your timeline because I think when the Raptors say we want flexibility I don’t think enough people really bother to think what do they want to be flexible with it’s not just the contracts they’re signing it’s not just oh we want to take one twoyear deals not all One twoyear deals are the same two years on Zack line is not the same thing as two years on Chris bue I think what they want to do in my opinion is they want to have versatile portable players on versatile portable contracts so that their roster in general and their timeline can be flexible I don’t think they want roster flexibility as much as they want timeline flexibility now with all your picks back under your control not to mention additional picks and under your control including Portland’s 2025 second round pick which replaces your own second round pick which you lost and Indiana’s 2026 first round pick I believe you have the type of pieces potentially potentially that if you decide that Scotty Barnes is just this good now imagine you remember I was saying imagine if Scotty Barnes becomes Jason Tatum or Shay G Alexander and Emanuel quickly becomes Jaylen Brunson Etc well let’s say you’re 20 games into the season and Emanuel quickley is really looking like an Allstar and let’s say you’re 20 games into the season and Scotty Barnes is looking like an all NBA guy and let’s say RJ Barrett just holds up and is a little bit better defensively and let’s say Grady dick and Jobe Walter are just meeting expectations for what you wanted right well you know who you could replace that Sasha venko starting spot with by trading Sasha and Bruce Brown let me know in the chat if you can think let me let me present you let me let me present you with the trade hold on I’m I’m going show you actually let me pull up the trade machine I’ll show you exactly what I mean hang up one sec this will be a good mic drop moment okay trade machine uh MBA hold up fbow okay okay Bruce Brown out Chris bue out and you probably add a ton of picks right you’re probably adding your 2026 Indiana pick 2028 first rounder 2030 first rounder and there’s your trade you invest you go all in on a five-year window and that’s your deal it’s a really competitive offer it offers the Jazz a lot of flexibility three first round picks it still gives the Raptors their 2025 first round pick their own 2026 first round pick their own 2020 seven first round pick and their own 2029 first round pick right it’s not bad and Lori is a guy who can create his own shot bager Badger box saying meh don’t like it damn it 81 saying I’m not giving up picks for Lori then you’re not getting Lori marinin if he has one year well I think they’re going to extend him if that makes sense I think they’re going to extend him and then trade him so you would get the extension done on the trade like you would negotiate you’re not losing him for Jack [ __ ] and you would probably be extending him at about 35 million herb Jones y’all think y’all think about picks in a really weird way you just saw the New York Knicks trade five first rounders and a pix swap for Mel Bridges and you’re not willing to trade three first round picks for a better player in Lorie marinin yikes why not do this trade now says M.O because you don’t know if this is your timeline yet that’s the problem you don’t know what you have in manual quickly you don’t know if Scotty is ready for that yet you just don’t know that’s a steal for Lori I agree you’re probably gonna have to add a pick swap to this my point is you have some flexibility okay fine you don’t want to do Lori marinin let’s try again okay so let’s let’s let’s take off Lori and you know who’s somebody else that might be available not try young we’re not doing Trey young but a power forward who could be available on a team that’s not going anywhere fast right what if the Memphis Grizzlies really come out and choke like they’re really really bad would we look at jiren Jackson Jr as a potential could we look at Desmond Bane right and you’re firmly parking Scotty Barnes into the four spot if you do that right um could we look at one of those guys again my point is you have the assets to go and grab a pseudo star not a real star a pseudo star I mean you could potentially potentially even right now be competitive for a guy like Brandon Ingram I’m not sure why you would want to be necessarily he doesn’t really completely fit with what you’re trying to do but at some point you’re going to have to go out there and get someone who can generate their own offense to replace what you lost with Pascal seaka because I don’t really think you’ve completely replaced it right now get shenon from the Rockets King Kylie you’re kidding me I think Jabari Smith got the right got the right Personnel when he asked Tatum what do you what do you do when you don’t make people’s expectations he has to drive just the wrong team um I’m a big fan of his but he’s still a really big question mark Jabari is trash he’s definitely not trash he’s a pretty good young player um Lori will be our best option I completely agree I think I think Lor marinan is our best option he fits completely um okay I’ll give you another option which which may not be nearly as let’s say the Boston Celtics are really really trying to avoid I don’t think they’re going to do this right now but let’s just say they don’t want to be in the they don’t want to be in the they want to Pivot off of Chris STS porzingis right let’s just say with Chris ABS porzingis you know he’s young enough at 28 to kind of still be on this timeline would you do yaka purle Chris bue and a first round pick Indiana’s first round pick for KP injury concerns yes but a massive Talent upgrade and freeze up some cast base would you look at that as something are they taking back more no it’s because yakob and shoot I just missed it okay so it can’t be Chris buet it has to be somebody else uh because they’re a second apron team so they’re going to be jammed right like they’re completely jammed in terms of you know their flexibility right now so it’s not Chris bue and you pretty much can’t exceed it so you’ll have to give them less but they can’t take back more hang on let’s let’s see how complicated it is to actually make a deal with a team that is in this position because I have a feeling it’s going to be really really hard now I’m not like I realize that okay let’s just try to trade oaji and let’s see what happens I don’t think they can do this no they can do this there we go okay it’s not that hard so yaka purle oaji and a first round pick for Chris ABS porzingis that works why did they do this they probably don’t do this I’m just saying hypothetically um if the Clippers started rebuilding would you take kawhai again uh no KP is walking is a walking Hospital oh my God how about Mo Vagner I’m not really um sure he’s going to be Dylan Brooks contract looks like a steal right now it really doesn’t really for real Dylan Brooks are we sure we’re talking about the same player do I just have my Dylan Brooks hater glasses on like what’s his contract three years left at 22 million you think that’s a steel I don’t think that’s a steal at all he’s 28 years old bro you’re paying him until 31 to be what he’s a he’s a pretty pesky Defender I’m just not sure where he is offensively and you know if you brought Dylan Brooks onto this team I guarantee you he’s coming here thinking he’s Jordan I promise you that guy will that guy has no conscience um what are your thoughts on the pal and Trend trade I didn’t like it then didn’t like it a year from now didn’t like it a year ago didn’t like it ever Brooks will be the next Fred Van bleet FV I’m assuming that’s for Van B considering Trent didn’t really pan out H Allen and Mobley might need to be broken up just didn’t work last season well I’m not really sure which one of those players you’re thinking about but when they say those guys need to be broken up they’re definitely not talking about trading Evan Moy and while I would be really interested in pairing Scotty and Evan Mobley and I would give up a lot to make that happen what they would want in return for Evan Mobley is Scotty Barnes no no they they they have uh they’ll have a market for him for sure Garland and Allen should be gone yeah I agree um so yeah I mean like look you just you don’t know where teams are going to be a few years from now and you know you could be seeing guys become available if I’m estimating a team like the Hawks will want to move off of Trey young if things do not go well right you have guys like Kyle kma in Washington right Brandon Ingram again these are those secondary tertiary type of guys but they can generate a shot for themselves right if you replace right now just think about this I’m not I’m not suggesting that K kusma is the answer to all your woes I’m just saying if you were to replace Sasha bankov and Chris Bush with Kyle kosma right now are you better team Murphy is the only one who moves the T needle for me yeah I have a feeling they’re not going to move off of um Trey Murphy at this point getting rid of Dyson Daniels that would have been his replacement I don’t really know where they would go and I don’t think that they’re crazy enough to do that now obviously if you look at a team like there’s nothing on the Sacramento Kings that I’m really interested in there’s nothing on the I could look to the Blazers again Jeremy Grant just had a terrible year last year right the Jazz the you know the Pacers it’s all young picks it’s really difficult to find a player who’s kind of on that level of Lori Markin and it’s the reason why I keep going back to Lori Markin in can miles Bridges play in Canada I’m not sure about that would you bring an older player if Scotty takes another massive leap Define older we talking 28 eight plus 29 yes because I just mentioned Chris porzingis are we talking 32 33 like are we talking 34 like Paul George no I wouldn’t I wouldn’t go that far okay let’s go crazy right now let’s I don’t know when we trade with the Phoenix Suns for the guy that we were allegedly trying to Target a long time ago 35-year-old Kevin Durant what would that look like will we make a trade for Kevin Durant as an advantage generating second or first option with Scotty being the key second would we get crazy enough to do that and we would put together Bruce Brown Chris bue and picks I mean look at some point the this team is going to realize they’re not very good right now and they’re going to probably realize that pretty soon cuz I’m not really loving their offseason so far and Bradley be is 31 years old Kevin Durant’s 35 years old at some point they’re going to have to get some pick Equity back and I’m not really sure where the market is for Kevin Durant at $51 million but he’s a player that I think weirdly enough does fit really well with what the Raptors want to do and I think Darko is a really big fan of his so what would it take probably more than you have it would probably take it would probably take one of your one of your young pieces three picks four picks plus fillers and I don’t know like at 51 million you have to gut your whole roster to get them it’s probably like I mean if you wanted to bet your house that Kevin Durant is not going to be a Toronto Raptor in the next two years you’ll you won’t be homeless it’s not going to happen lamelo ball in a few years no I want nothing to do with lamelo ball ever KD is in Toronto right now is he for what when is carabana happening is carabana soon no it’s August for Canada Day Katie is celebrating Canada Day with Drake he was at Drake’s house you didn’t see no that’s crazy I um KD is one of my favorite players but he just became not one of my favorite players for that Rick Ross got jumped for Canada to day I don’t know if y’all are trolling me but anyways overall the the point of this live is saying that I do think the Raptors going to make a move but it doesn’t have to be tomorrow it certainly doesn’t have to be next week but at some point in the upcoming summer this roster does not make a hell of a lot of sense okay I mean again it’s a lot of shooting guards uh if you guys listen to Rusty buckets uh he’s a cool content creator sometimes I listen to him he had a really cool video essay I want to say two weeks ago three weeks ago and he’s talking about the death of the power forward position and which position will be next and he’s not wrong right like the typical power forward you know that Carl Malone Horus Grant type is just not an NBA player anymore Brian Grant some of my favorite players growing up with power forwards they’re not really in the NBA they all kind of became stretch bigs so I think it bodes well that all of the guys that I term as power forwards in Toronto’s offense right now aren’t really typically power forwards and even two of the three Center prospects so like basically at this point five six of your seven quote unquote big players and you can throw Scotty Barnes into that as well so seven of your eight big players or guys who conceivably ever find themselves in a big position like a power forward or Center because Scotty Barnes don’t rule out Scotty Barnes playing Center a little bit next year or power forward he’s definitely going to spend some time there he’s probably going to spend some time at the one two three four and five my point is of the seven players that you could put at Power Forward which includes Bruce brown right which includes oai abaji which includes Jonathan mobo Chris bue Sasha venkov Kelly alen Ur sham Brandon Clarkson who is I think 215 pounds if I’m not mistaken but 7’2 all those players can at least shoot the dump shot so it’s not that the Raptors are going for a prototypical power forward that according to Rusty buckets has been eradicated from the league but he said the next position that is going on its way out is shooting guards and I think that that is the most interesting thing about this entire you know rant that I’m on right now which is the Raptors have such an abundance of shooting guards but none of them have the typical shooting guard profile so in RJ Barrett it’s like a small forward skill set trapped in a shooting guard’s body Emanuel quickley is a shooting you know he’s a he’s a shooting guard trapped in a point guard’s body who’s trying to learn how to be more of a point guard or a lead initiator but has struggled at times Grady dick is more of a string be right now but eventually he could be a 34 oai abaji again more of a 34 more undersized 34 so he’s not really a typical shooting guard the closest thing you have on your roster to a typical classic vintage two guard probably jacobe Walter and Javon Freeman Liberty those are your most typical two guards right and yeah I mean they’re both really long and they can both probably guard the three so it’s interesting the Raptors have sort of loaded up on these two positions which is the power forward and the shooting guard position and they’re trying to transition either some of their Underside shooting guards they’re trying to you know they’re trying to create a a balance where they’re trying to create really well rounded and mosty positional players so in an Ideal World Grady dick is going to be able to play the 234 jacobe waler is gonna be able to play the one two three again ideally right you want this to be that Jonathan mobo can be your 345 right that URI shamay can be a 43 maybe a four five right Scotty bar is already a one two three four five so you are you are pulling like a lot of multi-positional players and putting them all on the same same team and you’re hoping that you can develop some of them into pieces that fit together but ultimately as I said the Raptor’s success next year or failure will hinge completely almost completely on Scotty Barnes being able to take that next step because just like we’ve seen in free agency where you know we see Paul George sign and then suddenly we see a lot of smaller things sign and then we see Kelly Thomson sign and we see a lot of smaller deals come through that’s exactly how basketball works as well you need to start at the top your top Advantage generator is really good it’s going to unlock a lot of stuff right so again when you play with a LeBron when you play with a Luca when you play with a shay when you play with you know even an mbid or a yic when you play with one of these top guys like what people keep talking about with Bruce Brown like oh he’s gonna find it he’s gonna find it no he’s not GNA find it because you’re not cutting clean the way you cut off of yic right yic gets guys paid you guys paid even halberton he’s getting he’s going to get guys paid because again when you see the game that well when you’re able to generate advantages and threat advantages that well you’re going to get guys more open you get them cleaner looks and they’re not going to be able to do that without you but ultimately nicolea yic is not necessarily relying on his teammates to free him up he’s freeing up his teammates but in order for him to do what he does best he needs to have space the Raptors have finally given Scotty Barnes space to work with with yeah he’s still got a big who can’t shoot starting next you know starting next to him in yako purle we’ll see how long that’s the case but for the most part given the yako peral constraints and the roster that the Raptors impose on themselves handcuffs that they put on themselves um at the last year’s trade deadline I think the Raptors have given Scotty Barnes a proposition grow or go home you know become a great player look at the roster around you Scotty’s a really smart guy he’s obviously like a basketball Savant to some extent you know he can see this roster he can see how it’s all going to come together he’s sees the pieces I hope he’s happy I hope he’s excited so he and Emanuel quickley can very clearly have a vision for how they’re going to need to train to be successful and I think Darko rakovich is going to communicate that to them this week that hey this is our roster apart from a few you know ancillary you know a few marginal changes Bruce Brown potentially going out for a center or shooting guard or whatever you know or a backup card a little bit of a improvement from Grady a little bit of improvement from Davon maybe surprise spot from Davon who knows you know maybe he was struggling in Sacramento living up to the lottery height and maybe this is one of those rare things I mean the Raptors have taken a lot of chances on EX Lottery burnouts right they took a chance on Anthony Bennett didn’t work out they took a chance on Stanley Johnson didn’t work out so they’ve taken this chance a couple times hasn’t really worked out maybe Davon will be the one that works out who knows um man I’m praying Koko makes the comeback I’m praying too but I don’t think you need to hold your breath on that one I don’t think that’s going to happen could they get Jonathan Isaac no um the magic are currently um the magic are currently restructuring his contract to resign him um the Raptors are smart for extending Bruce you can never have too much assets if they want to trade for a great player in the future Momo’s saying this couple things number one they didn’t extend Bruce Brown they picked up his team option so vernacular is important here or sorry the the verbi is important there the second part is that someone is only an asset in so far as someone who’s willing to pay for them Ben Simmons center with Scotty no thank you I’m I’m good I’m good I mean I I used to defend Ben Simmons but I’m good I’ve seen enough if y’all seen his 2K rating in 2K 25 not saying that that’s a reason not to trade for him this is a guy who makes over $35 million a year who has a rating of 66 in NBA 2k 2K is just straight up disrespecting Ben Simmons at this point but he’s he’s earned it um it’s Gregory saying 260 watching only 54 likes hit that like button for me uh that would be great Ben Simmons has the same rating as hch I don’t know what URI sh’s rating is yet but in my version of 2K URI shamsh becomes a 66 rated player so yes did y’all catch the snipe by um Kevin OK Conor for Jonathan Moo’s um what was it Jonathan Moo’s draft comp Ben Simmons if he cared about basketball or something if he gave a damn about basketball that’s wild bro doubt Simmons gets another contract he is absolutely toast in the NBA bro you seen Tobias I love um you mean his contract if he can get 20 Ben can get a minimum um I don’t want want to start like assuming that because the the Pistons did something that that’s that’s gospel also I will say this here’s here’s a trade that I okay I’m Gonna Leave y’all with something good to to to just chew on okay there’s a player that I would sign that I would sign he’s not cheap it does kind of lock you into something a little bit more long term bear with me but it is a player who fits it is a player who’s pretty damn good and he would be one of your best defenders on day one and he would probably start for you does anyone know who I’m talking about it would be a sign and trade for Bruce Brown he was in the NBA Finals couple years ago he’s pretty damn good player he’s on the he’s on the market right now who we talking about anyone know berer buer buer anyone who am I talking about Andrew Wiggins nope fair enough that was that was three years ago at this point so Andrew Wiggins was in the three finals ago two finals ago there was a guy PJ Tucker nope Jimmy Butler nope jonte p uh wow Michael Porter Jr nope PJ nope Butler nope y’all missing I’ll give you another hint he has a brother in the NBA Joan Davis C I like basketball saying it’s kind of weird I’ve never seen msai Bank so hard on winning the lottery especially before the season even starts looking at this roster and without banking on potential it isn’t the best I I don’t think that that’s the case yeah it’s Caleb Martin so thanks a lot yeah it’s Caleb Martin so Caleb Martin’s pretty good player allegedly according to Jake fiser again he is looking for a deal closer to what Tobias Harris Scott um I don’t think he’s gonna get that but if you can go a little bit above and I’m saying just a little bit above the mid level for Caleb Martin it’s pretty valuable Wing you’re saying No thank you what do you my bad for 26 mil no thank you um who said 26 million I didn’t say 26 million I said a little bit more than the mid-level exception my bad I I I booted myself out oh no sorry I should have CL ified not quite Tobias money but he was looking to fit into the contract slot that Detroit had opened maybe Detroit paid a little bit more I’m saying if you pay him a little bit more than the midlevel at 28 years old as a good Defender he gives you a chance also really good transition player right mid-level exception is not that mid-level exception is around 12 so so 12.9 I think non- tax player not non- taxpayer mid level so I’d be looking at about 15 and a half 15 and a half or 16 for three years so 48 million three years trade them Bruce Brown’s expiring like that right they would absorb Bruce Brown you could potentially I don’t know if can you can you aggregate contracts when you doing a sign a trade or you have to send it out just as one or maybe just maybe he’s a better player than Bruce Brown so maybe you do two years right 40 million right or okay I’ll give you another example what if we do $46 million hold up hold up hold up hold up hold up team option on the second year for for for Caleb Martin would you do it cuz I’m thinking I would are basing that on one season in Miami no I’m not hold on let me pull up let me pull up who he’s been for for the last few years I feel like people are kind of sleeping on him a little bit so let’s just take a look at Caleb Martin he’s a better player than Andrew Wiggins I’ll tell you that right now and if we’re willing to take on Andrew Wiggins for 27 million and not willing to take on Caleb Martin I wonder why um okay let’s take a look so in terms of advanced stats not looking super promising the last two years negative boxes minus both years but the versatility defensively is where I would say the value is yes I’ll agree it hasn’t been like the greatest but and the true shooting percentage has been on a nose dive the last three years so maybe that is okay should I should I maybe like correct myself here maybe I’m wrong that’s tough but damn that one year that first year in Miami was solid wasn’t it 41 like 41% from three that was solid um 35% from three may not be the best but I’m telling you he’s a much better Defender than people give him credit for started a bunch of games from Miami and he just fits in better with what you’re trying to do than than Bruce Brown I’m just saying it he’s a better shooter than Bruce Brown so it would just be swapping Bruce Brown for another Bruce Brown you’d be giving them the one year and I don’t know why they would do it honestly at this point I’m I’m kind of confusing myself uh but maybe it’ll be a slight slightly less because maybe I’ve kind of talked myself out of this at this point but hang on let me let me just look at this here take a look at some of his defensive um elements here like he’s he’s not great obviously the shooting fell off a lot but look at that 79th percentile defensive rating I mean it’s it’s not bad defense is plus minus a 78th 79th percentile he does become one of your better Defenders naturally it’s not it’s not something you give up an asset for um Caleb is a less versatile Defender than Wiggins I think it’s because Wiggins is used more versatile but like if you watch them play I would say he’s a little bit more they’re both 28 years old but with Wiggins you’re taking on three years if you’re just looking for a guy who might who might Thrive and again Miami is not exactly running the most Soph at offense just to be clear on that right like the Raptors are potentially potentially a place where I feel like a guy like this could be unlocked right and again he’s got one big year I don’t know like is he better than Bruce Brown hell yes he is right now yes he is he’s bigger and he’s better and he’s got more positional versatility and I think he’s like he’s like just like Andrew Wiggins he’s kind of like this this type of guy that you don’t really have on your roster which is like an actual big Wing you know he’s like what 66 67 but he’s like hold on let me see here oh [ __ ] he’s 6’4 with the 610 wingspan he plays bigger than he is um positional size D+ I did not realize he was 6’4 my bad how’s he so undersized let me see where Lori marinan is here I think some people are about to become Lori Markin fans right now again a 96 percenti offensive player who shoots 63% true shooting on a 94th percentile shot quality like you really are talking about an All-Star here honestly okay so here’s the thing I’ve gone back and forth on Andrew Wiggins like three times so I’ve said no I wouldn’t that’s crazy to yes I would and now I’m back in the camp of yeah I’m not sure I want to do it anymore the threeyear thing is really scary to me and I think if if the Raptors were willing to take on Andrew wiggin’s contract for just Bruce Brown I think that deal would have been done already I don’t think it’s that easy and unless the Warriors are giving major major assets to bite on that it’s it’s a really bad contract if you want to look at the season Andrew Wiggins had last year it’s it’s disastrous hold on like this is where we’re at right now like 69th percentile offensive is a little misleading like not a great passer rating not very portable three-point attempt rate in the track trash true shooting in the trash shot quality in the trash so yeah he yeah in theory he can generate offense it’s not very good offense and then defensively like where you would expect an athlete like him to be thriving the only thing that’s really popping for him right now is versatility it’s it’s not great man and if you see the trend line on him it’s it’s really it’s just been going down so you can make a case that this is a you know bet on him turning it around and maybe you have people close to him like this is the thing the Raptors like look at this like in terms of valueable replacement Wiggins 2022 season was an outlier if you want to consider 2021 to 2022 those two seasons well actually it was actually 2020 all the way to 2022 those are outlier Seasons he’s pretty much been a negative asset in terms of winning pretty much his whole career in Minnesota right then he comes over he’s sort of unlocked with the Warriors a little bit wins a title last year we saw a massive regression like we are seeing like to go from a negative to go from a 1.3 play fewer minutes and then go to a negative like you really have to understand like how bad this is in terms of box plus minus that’s one positive in his entire career do you know that Scotty Barnes worst box plus minus season is better than Andrew wigan’s best box plus minus season is that a stat that’ll blow your mind that’s crazy so yeah Andrew Wiggins may have an RJ Barrett like pop but he’s also 28 years old um so clutch Tatum with the joke of the day you’re telling me this guy Lo yep he outplayed him too offensively as well Andrew Wiggins thoroughly outplayed Jason Tatum in the finals bro don’t worry the finals were a massive outlier Andrew Wiggins has never played that well ever and I don’t think he’ll ever play that well again but you know what say what you will about Andrew Wiggins he shows up for the big ones right he played well for Team Canada as well and to those people saying they’re happy he’s not playing for Team Canada H you’re crazy I think some personal factors have played a role though well if you’re looking at this this is his entire career this is not a year this is not two years this is not three years this is not a tough stretch this is this is his entire career across two different teams and really if you’re going to sell yourself on 2022 Maple mamba or sorry um Maple Jordan being like the real Andrew Wiggins I don’t know like that’s that’s a tough sell for me as well right like he’s never been really much of a passer he’s never really been much of a three-point shooter so it’s really like it’s hedging on a very archaic shooting style and play style which is very isod driven very isocentric and it’s like okay well yeah sure you can unlock him in transition and break some bad habits or whatever but man like if you don’t like that’s a pretty big Mo ball and he’s also a guy that has a lot of negative charge in terms of his career and his asset value like he’s a very known commodity he’s a very big deal as a former first overall pick and again you know it was all trending in a positive way but I think that how general managers feel about a player right this is it this is it he’s consistently inconsistent right when general managers have a feeling about a player like I’m going to say right now Cal filipowski right like this entire thing that happened with Cal filipowski Mormon grooming older girlfriend all that stuff right I’m G tell you right now there’s 15 general managers out there that just basically put him on him on the do not trade for list no matter what and that guy is not getting traded to them he failed a lot of interviews like not failed so even if he comes out and he’s lights out lights out I’m talking like he’s shooting 42% from the three he outperforms expectations his asset value is never going to be as high as it could have been if people didn’t have those assumptions about them right it’s a human it’s a human business anytime it’s miles Bridges right M Bridges is easily worth more than Tobias Harris right now as a basketball player M Bridges would be lucky to get the mid-level exception from someone is filipowski story true it is 100% true he was reportedly asked about it in interviews and he did not provide very encouraging answers his family went on to Twitter I believe and they rebuked or they um what’s the what’s the word they contradicted Jonathan gon’s whole like it’s not a big deal type of thing bro grooming is a real thing speaking of BBL Jersey um grooming is a real thing and I’ve talked about it before and I’m just going to say like it’s something that I’m very sensitive to not because it happened to me but because it’s happened to people who are close to me um I had a friend of mine obviously just for privacy sake I’m not going to name her name uh when she was 13 years old her friend’s older brother started taking an interest in showing her stuff you know nothing too crazy you know try trying to help her you know with her art trying to help her with homework trying to help her with hockey trying to help her with basketball and you know like it was always like oh you know the sister comes along like oh you know like bring her along too let’s whatever he was creating a positive relationship with her right so that she would trust him that she would view him as a bit of an authority figure and obviously if you’re 18 years old and you’re communicating with a 13-year-old you’re going to be in an immediate position of power she’s not going to be able to see you clearly she do have that judgment whatever right um when she turned 17 though because according to Ontario law doesn’t really matter past 16 he asked her out he asked her out on a date right she agreed by the time she was 18 they were boyfriend and girlfriend now at this point obviously he’s 25 years old and some people might say well 25 and 18 is not a big deal right it’s a big deal if you set the groundwork for that [ __ ] relationship with that girl was 13 that’s what grooming is and that’s not [ __ ] cool so I’m just going to say it right now when I met that dude I wanted to smack him in the face and I didn’t even know about the backstory he just felt like one of those really annoying snively type of dudes he was very controlling over her very controlling dude and it was later that she found out that you know this would this was happening to her but that’s what happened to Kowski except he’s a man you know so when he was I think 13 years old this woman or 14 or something like that I want to spread I don’t spread a rumor he was very young young he was either 13 or 14 or 15 or 16 something like that this girl who was much older than him started to take interest in him and when he was 18 I believe she was 25 he went to prom with her so you know again you you get so George saying what’s your babysitter there you go right so when you see you know and this is what’s so important for young athletes like Scotty Barnes and whatever is dude I see this all the time I really do like I’ve seen it with like five different players that I have known personally where when they get money when they get signed when they get drafted when you know when they get a division one scholarship oh my God the people that come out of the woodwork the people that you know when they get their first NBA deal and people see the number they’re like oh that guy down the street that I used to babysit or that guy I used to go out with or that guy that asked me out once he just got a $2 million deal $3 million deal to play with the Raptors oh that [ __ ] like that is it’s not it’s not just the power of like the money it’s also the power of the status of dating a pro athlete the way women throw themselves at these guys is crazy but what’s really crazy is the people that come out of the woodwork in terms of your family your extended friends your your cousins you know and the the way they’re like they start gassing up your parents right like they’ll be like Oh blank I I want to I I hope blank and you know and you are are super blessed and and you know they start they start talking about God all the time and you know blessings and blessings on you and your family and sometimes you’re like man I hope that’s genuine but a lot of times it’s not a lot of times it’s setting up for a favor you know because again human nature says most of us don’t actively go around blasting how much money we make but a lot of these kids can’t help it their money is public it’s interesting right do you know how much you know how much money Bobby wster makes is it it’s not that accessible to you right you can’t be like oh Bobby Wester makes 15 million you know what I mean it’s very easy to say Scotty Barnes makes 270 million right like across whatever and obviously he does make anywhere near that and he won’t make anywhere near that after taxes and stuff when people see that you got to think about it someone comes up to you and says yo bro my house is being foreclosed I need $20,000 loan you really going to say know if it’s childhood friend that’s how you go broke these people need God in their lives they do mental manipulation can destroy someone for the rest of their lives it’s no joke absolutely I agree I completely agree we do an entire episode on the cost of manipulation and gaslighting it is a very serious thing I know people like to think of abuse as just like the physical stuff or maybe even the verbal stuff maybe you think no someone isn’t abusing you unless they’re punching you directly in the face but I will tell you for sure that if you live with someone that is mentally abusing you like like emotionally abusing you you may you may not you may not Factor it in you may not be hip to it you may say no suck it up that’s not real whatever it’s very real it will destroy your life in ways you never understand like it’s crazy it people can make you think less of yourself then you that that’s even vaguely realistic right anyways we’re getting a little off topic here um Momo saying Josh giddy was not was traded not because of his talent um I think it was a little bit of both Zeke saying your lives are so therapeutic I’m glad that they have that effect because they often happen to take place at such random times at night so anyways I wish you all good night for the sake of the Raptors I hope they make a trade and I hope it’s a good one I really would be down for a Cameron Johnson trade I’ve always liked cam Johnson as long as we’re not attaching picks into that deal or like multiple picks into that deal I think it’s an upside play still kind of fits Scotty’s timeline um when when the Toronto Raptors or if the Toronto Raptors decide after 20 games that they’re better than they realized those picks those future picks those 2028 2023 2030s that I’m suggesting maybe might be worth dangling right now they’re going to be worth a lot less right because once you start showing the vision of what Scotty Barnes and man quickley and RJ Barrett can be then people can project forward more accurately right right now I think most of the league expects the Raptors to be a lottery team for the next three years I don’t think most of the league expects Scotty Barnes to turn into a franchise level Talent right Medved saying rob USA Canada Serbia France who is taking the gold medal in Paris this year good question who am I rooting for obviously Serbia um who do I think will win um not going to lie I hold I hold an American passport and yet I’m kind of low-key rooting for the United States to lose I really don’t like this [ __ ] that they did with Andrew Wiggins and I really don’t um I don’t like that Zach Ed is also being held out so I guess a part of me is rooting for Serbia and Canada so let me put it this way I’m rooting for Serbia and Canada if I had to and I guess I wouldn’t be too upset at Slovenia won if Luca is playing um but if I’m doing a simulation in my head right now who wins France France France would be really cool um maybe that’s a completely ridiculous take maybe France has no chance you know um maybe they’re too young maybe wenyama and goar is just really weird and they don’t have enough guard depth right but yeah I mean Shay gild just Alexander plus Dylan Brooks plus Kelly oen plus you know RJ Barrett like the can Team Canada is great like really really great and also embiid being on Team USA is the reason I don’t think they’re going to win I don’t think God will allow Joel embiid to win anything in his life I believe that for all the unfair things in life that exists all the unfair things the fact that I live in a country where Justin Trudeau is the leader the fact that I hold a passport in a country in which Donald Trump was the president I feel like a lot of things in life are unfair but I don’t think that in my lifetime Joel embiid will hold a gold medal or an NBA championship not going to happen they got LeBron sorry for the Caps they needed to get Scotty Barnes on that team I’m not just saying that as a Tron Raptor fan I’m saying that as a person who is just has a longer vision for what Team USA Basketball needs to do at this point if I’m Scotty Barnes I’m looking at Jamaica I’m like yo Jamaica G give me give me a call you know like let me let me go and do my own thing right I’m trying to see Scotty Barnes on Team Canada I don’t think he’s ever going to represent Team Canada my boy um Scotty is like fiercely I don’t say patriotic but he’s fiercely loyal you know like he’s not about to sell out Scotty Barnes is the anti- Joel embiid let’s put it that way he not about to do that anyway I’ll talk to you’all later I got to go write a script and then I got to be up at 11: am am uh I will see you guys if some of you want to join in on the panel on player choice I’m just giving that a shout out be on at 11:00 a.m. pray for my sake that I actually wake up for that it’s 3:00 a.m. right now I’m probably not going to get get to sleep until 6:00 am. after I do the script so shoot but um with O and SE yakum huh who’s o you mean mean OG yeah sorry I’m reading o f and seak I’m like SE yakum and only fans what are we talking about here all right George all right guys talk to y’all later um have a great night and pray for the Raptors to make a move I hope I wake up Tetra hedron lack of sleep increases stroke chances like 300% thank you for that information I do believe that sleep is incredibly important and I do feel a lot better when I’ve slept well and I think you guys can feel it as well when I’ve slept and when I haven’t I think if I go back and listen to the lives where I haven’t slept very much or I’m over caffeinated I talk really fast and I say um a lot whereas lives where I’m better slept it it tends to flow a lot better and there’s a lot less stagnation and pausing so Zeke saying body clock also facts Tetra hon saying I learned it in health health science class in University so it’s a real thing I believe you sleep is super important we all guilty yeah we all are CU we’re up here at 3:00 a.m. talking about Raptor hoops man we’re the we are the real sickos right like give this video a like on your way out I appreciate it have a good night y’all enjoy enjoy your night and hope you had a very blessed and lovely candada day and despite my talking about it I hope you didn’t go to Mandarin and get sick don’t blame me for it all right peace
The second day of free agency brought nothing but Garrett Temple for the Toronto Raptors who remain locked into a roster that doesn’t make sense right now. With plenty of flexibility to maneuver the gaps around Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett, with promising young players like Ja’Kobe Walter, Gradey Dick and Jonathan Mogbo now on board, there’s one thing that is becoming VERY obvious – if Scottie Barnes doesn’t get a lot better, the Toronto Raptors are going to struggle immensely to generate offense. And with a roster like theirs, with defensive gaps galore, unlike with their 2022 roster, defense won’t be able to bail them out.
The Raptors are making a bet on Scottie Barnes. Sink or swim.
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