Samson Folk and Caitlin Cooper dissect the Raptors

[dTox]

I'm about 20 min in, and felt the need to share, love to see these two geek out about the roster and what to potentially expect this coming season, Caitlin is one of the best in the business.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4ZjeJ4yuoSkWw21fLkuGj4?si=uOEBeknNTiC-38AqZPETUQ

Sent from my Pixel 9 Pro using RealGM mobile app

[Spida888]

For those who can't listen right now like me, here's an AI summary/overview:

Key Points

1. **Raptors Underrated**
Caitlin kicks off by arguing that the Raptors are more underrated than many believe. There’s optimism that the team has more upside than the general narrative gives them credit for.

2. **Fit & Style — Darko’s Role**
They spend time talking about Darko Ristic’s “style” (coaching or play style context) and whether it meshes well with the current roster. Some doubts are expressed about whether the fit is ideal.

3. **Concerns Over Lead Guard IQ**
A concern raised is how the “lead guard” (or primary ball-handler / decision-maker) performs — particularly in terms of basketball IQ. This ties into how well the team can execute under pressure.

4. **Competition at Shooting Guard**
There’s a discussion about the competition for shooting guard minutes / roles. Who steps up could shape how effective the team is offensively and defensively.

5. **Gradey Dick’s Growth & Defense**
Strong optimism for Gradey Dick — especially praising his defensive potential, believing he could develop into a very useful piece.

6. **Assists & Understanding Them**
They debate what assists really mean (in terms of value), and whether fans/media properly understand what’s behind those numbers.

7. **Film Analysis & Tactical Observations**
The “film room” section is used to peel back a few plays, looking at how the team runs sets, reads defenses, and whether options in plays are used properly or whether things become too scripted.

8. **Defense & Comparison with Pacers**
Some analysis of how the Raptors’ defense held up, and a look at what made the Indiana Pacers interesting or special as a team. Comparisons are used to highlight what Toronto might need to do to improve.

9. **Playoff Aspirations**
There’s a sense that making the playoffs is essential for validation. The hosts see that as a minimum for this season.

10. **Praise for Andrew Nembhard**
Nembhard gets shine for his growth and what he brings to the team — both in leadership and in performance.

11. **Comparisons: Tyrese / Scottie Barnes**
Discussion about Scottie Barnes compared with others (Tyrese, etc.), both in what they bring (strengths & weaknesses) and what their roles might be.

12. **Prospects / Young Players**
Caitlin mentions liking prospects such as CMB (Collin Murray-Boyles) and Mogbo, seeing their potential contributions.

Takeaway

The overall message is **optimistic but cautious**: the Raptors have more going for them than many give them credit for. There are areas of concern (lead guard decision-making, fit, execution in plays, etc.), but there's also reason for hope, especially from younger players, their defense, and the coaching film work. The expectation is that the team *should* make the playoffs, and doing so would go a long way toward proving they really are better than the outside perception.

[MessiahUjiri]

For those who can't listen right now like me, here's an AI summary/overview:

Key Points

1. **Raptors Underrated**
Caitlin kicks off by arguing that the Raptors are more underrated than many believe. There’s optimism that the team has more upside than the general narrative gives them credit for.

2. **Fit & Style — Darko’s Role**
They spend time talking about Darko Ristic’s “style” (coaching or play style context) and whether it meshes well with the current roster. Some doubts are expressed about whether the fit is ideal.

3. **Concerns Over Lead Guard IQ**
A concern raised is how the “lead guard” (or primary ball-handler / decision-maker) performs — particularly in terms of basketball IQ. This ties into how well the team can execute under pressure.

4. **Competition at Shooting Guard**
There’s a discussion about the competition for shooting guard minutes / roles. Who steps up could shape how effective the team is offensively and defensively.

5. **Gradey Dick’s Growth & Defense**
Strong optimism for Gradey Dick — especially praising his defensive potential, believing he could develop into a very useful piece.

6. **Assists & Understanding Them**
They debate what assists really mean (in terms of value), and whether fans/media properly understand what’s behind those numbers.

7. **Film Analysis & Tactical Observations**
The “film room” section is used to peel back a few plays, looking at how the team runs sets, reads defenses, and whether options in plays are used properly or whether things become too scripted.

8. **Defense & Comparison with Pacers**
Some analysis of how the Raptors’ defense held up, and a look at what made the Indiana Pacers interesting or special as a team. Comparisons are used to highlight what Toronto might need to do to improve.

9. **Playoff Aspirations**
There’s a sense that making the playoffs is essential for validation. The hosts see that as a minimum for this season.

10. **Praise for Andrew Nembhard**
Nembhard gets shine for his growth and what he brings to the team — both in leadership and in performance.

11. **Comparisons: Tyrese / Scottie Barnes**
Discussion about Scottie Barnes compared with others (Tyrese, etc.), both in what they bring (strengths & weaknesses) and what their roles might be.

12. **Prospects / Young Players**
Caitlin mentions liking prospects such as CMB (Collin Murray-Boyles) and Mogbo, seeing their potential contributions.

Takeaway

The overall message is **optimistic but cautious**: the Raptors have more going for them than many give them credit for. There are areas of concern (lead guard decision-making, fit, execution in plays, etc.), but there's also reason for hope, especially from younger players, their defense, and the coaching film work. The expectation is that the team *should* make the playoffs, and doing so would go a long way toward proving they really are better than the outside perception.

Which AI did you use?

Can you just give it a link for a audio/video without a transcript and get it to summarize for you? without sitting through long content?

[Tofubeque]

Which AI did you use?

Can you just give it a link for a audio/video without a transcript and get it to summarize for you? without sitting through long content?

Sure, if you like getting wrong information about a team coached by Darko Ristic.

3. **Concerns Over Lead Guard IQ**
A concern raised is how the “lead guard” (or primary ball-handler / decision-maker) performs — particularly in terms of basketball IQ. This ties into how well the team can execute under pressure.

Here the bot is confusing "basketball IQ" and the player's name. The concerns included IQ's inability to get to the rim, his low blowby %, and how rarely he passes middle, not his intelligence.

5. **Gradey Dick’s Growth & Defense**
Strong optimism for Gradey Dick — especially praising his defensive potential, believing he could develop into a very useful piece.

They had the opposite of praise for Gradey's defensive potential, lol. The word "useful" may have been used in the context of "how can the Raptors ever make him useful on that end"

AI summaries are ass and I wish they'd stop being posted here. Save some water and electricity.

[Brinbe]

Yes, definitely recommend it as well. Watched it earlier here

Watch on YouTube

really good and fair breakdown on the team heading into the season.

I found the discussion on the comparisons between the Pacers/Raptors pretty interesting in that they both passed a lot but they obviously weren't similar at all. And the point Samson made about someone like Hali and Scottie both being good passers but the Pacers do a lot to accentuate Hali's strengths while hiding his weaknesses and Scottie had the opposite approach last season where all he did was work on the weak points of his game.

We still have to see how they coalesce and how Darko is able to manage a pretty hefty roster with a lot of guys in need of playing time to develop balanced along with a win-now mentality.

[Spida888]

For those who can't listen right now like me, here's an AI summary/overview:

Spoiler:

Key Points

1. **Raptors Underrated**
Caitlin kicks off by arguing that the Raptors are more underrated than many believe. There’s optimism that the team has more upside than the general narrative gives them credit for.

2. **Fit & Style — Darko’s Role**
They spend time talking about Darko Ristic’s “style” (coaching or play style context) and whether it meshes well with the current roster. Some doubts are expressed about whether the fit is ideal.

3. **Concerns Over Lead Guard IQ**
A concern raised is how the “lead guard” (or primary ball-handler / decision-maker) performs — particularly in terms of basketball IQ. This ties into how well the team can execute under pressure.

4. **Competition at Shooting Guard**
There’s a discussion about the competition for shooting guard minutes / roles. Who steps up could shape how effective the team is offensively and defensively.

5. **Gradey Dick’s Growth & Defense**
Strong optimism for Gradey Dick — especially praising his defensive potential, believing he could develop into a very useful piece.

6. **Assists & Understanding Them**
They debate what assists really mean (in terms of value), and whether fans/media properly understand what’s behind those numbers.

7. **Film Analysis & Tactical Observations**
The “film room” section is used to peel back a few plays, looking at how the team runs sets, reads defenses, and whether options in plays are used properly or whether things become too scripted.

8. **Defense & Comparison with Pacers**
Some analysis of how the Raptors’ defense held up, and a look at what made the Indiana Pacers interesting or special as a team. Comparisons are used to highlight what Toronto might need to do to improve.

9. **Playoff Aspirations**
There’s a sense that making the playoffs is essential for validation. The hosts see that as a minimum for this season.

10. **Praise for Andrew Nembhard**
Nembhard gets shine for his growth and what he brings to the team — both in leadership and in performance.

11. **Comparisons: Tyrese / Scottie Barnes**
Discussion about Scottie Barnes compared with others (Tyrese, etc.), both in what they bring (strengths & weaknesses) and what their roles might be.

12. **Prospects / Young Players**
Caitlin mentions liking prospects such as CMB (Collin Murray-Boyles) and Mogbo, seeing their potential contributions.

Takeaway

The overall message is **optimistic but cautious**: the Raptors have more going for them than many give them credit for. There are areas of concern (lead guard decision-making, fit, execution in plays, etc.), but there's also reason for hope, especially from younger players, their defense, and the coaching film work. The expectation is that the team *should* make the playoffs, and doing so would go a long way toward proving they really are better than the outside perception.

Which AI did you use?

Can you just give it a link for a audio/video without a transcript and get it to summarize for you? without sitting through long content?

I used ChatGPT but any AI assistant will do. You just provide a simple text prompt like "summarize this podcast [podcast_link]".

[ConSarnit]

Which AI did you use?

Can you just give it a link for a audio/video without a transcript and get it to summarize for you? without sitting through long content?

Sure, if you like getting wrong information about a team coached by Darko Ristic.

3. **Concerns Over Lead Guard IQ**
A concern raised is how the “lead guard” (or primary ball-handler / decision-maker) performs — particularly in terms of basketball IQ. This ties into how well the team can execute under pressure.

Here the bot is confusing "basketball IQ" and the player's name. The concerns included IQ's inability to get to the rim, his low blowby %, and how rarely he passes middle, not his intelligence.

5. **Gradey Dick’s Growth & Defense**
Strong optimism for Gradey Dick — especially praising his defensive potential, believing he could develop into a very useful piece.

They had the opposite of praise for Gradey's defensive potential, lol. The word "useful" may have been used in the context of "how can the Raptors ever make him useful on that end"

AI summaries are ass and I wish they'd stop being posted here. Save some water and electricity.

Yeah, I don’t think AI did a great job here. They absolutely didn’t praise Dick’s defensive upside. Cooper praised his offensive upside as she felt he has more upside as a playmaker compared to Walter.

I don’t think either of them had the Raptors as a playoff lock. They both had the Raptors as a play-in team if I’m remembering correctly.

[DreamTeam09]

most of the qualms come from not actually seeing the product last year, and the product we did see left a bad taste in everyone's mouth because we were tanking/developing while trading for a 40m player. No1 or very few saw the jump Det made last yr coming to fruition, I feel like we will be ina similar boat.

Vegas kept us up to 39.5 wins tho

[MEDIC]

I agreed with a lot what Caitlyn said regarding the offense. Sometimes it was too deliberate.

As far as the discussion about the defense goes (Caitlin asked if the defensive numbers improved simply because they were playing teams that were trying to lose). It definitely contributed to the numbers, but the truth was the defense improved considerably.

This team didn't really play defense until January. All the vets were playing with very little effort. Then, a month before the trade deadline you could really see the defensive effort improve substantially. They looked like a completely different team. Then there was a bit of a lull after the vets got traded. Then Scottie started taking his defense to anoher level & you could see the impact that it had on the overall team defense.

It will be interesting to see what it looks like this coming season. With CMB added, plus the rooks having a season under their belts, I hope we see further improvements.

[anotherhomer]

I get the feeling theres nothing new really being said

Team is better than it gets credited for but a lot of obvious question marks.

Overall, a r 7-10 conference playin team is an accurate description.

[CPT]

High level of analysis, as expected. Felt like I was missing a lot going audio-only, but I’m just not going to watch a video podcast.

The part that stuck out to me was when Caitlin mentioned how the Raptors have some interesting offensive lineups and interesting defensive lineups, but is unsure if they’ll actually get to play together.

My interpretation of that might be particularly harsh, but it could mean we have a team that plays less than the sum of its parts. And the parts aren’t great to begin with. They’re good(ish), but not great, so we have to hope there are some productive two-way lineups to be found.

[TheGeneral99]

We won 30 games last year while deliberately tanking and resting our stop players without Ingram. Quickly also missed like 80% of the season.

It's almost certain we will do better.

[djsunyc]

High level of analysis, as expected. Felt like I was missing a lot going audio-only, but I’m just not going to watch a video podcast.

The part that stuck out to me was when Caitlin mentioned how the Raptors have some interesting offensive lineups and interesting defensive lineups, but is unsure if they’ll actually get to play together.

My interpretation of that might be particularly harsh, but it could mean we have a team that plays less than the sum of its parts. And the parts aren’t great to begin with. They’re good(ish), but not great, so we have to hope there are some productive two-way lineups to be found.

basically up to darko to coach to win even if it ruffles feathers. if everyone is healthy, there will be some guys whose minutes get crunched.

[MessiahUjiri]

Which AI did you use?

Can you just give it a link for a audio/video without a transcript and get it to summarize for you? without sitting through long content?

Sure, if you like getting wrong information about a team coached by Darko Ristic.

3. **Concerns Over Lead Guard IQ**
A concern raised is how the “lead guard” (or primary ball-handler / decision-maker) performs — particularly in terms of basketball IQ. This ties into how well the team can execute under pressure.

Here the bot is confusing "basketball IQ" and the player's name. The concerns included IQ's inability to get to the rim, his low blowby %, and how rarely he passes middle, not his intelligence.

5. **Gradey Dick’s Growth & Defense**
Strong optimism for Gradey Dick — especially praising his defensive potential, believing he could develop into a very useful piece.

They had the opposite of praise for Gradey's defensive potential, lol. The word "useful" may have been used in the context of "how can the Raptors ever make him useful on that end"

AI summaries are ass and I wish they'd stop being posted here. Save some water and electricity.

Bro, of course it’s imperfect. I think we use this as shortcuts when we don’t have time to listen to full form content, and we have to discount the quality of the output to overlook mistakes like names.

It’s good enough to save me time and 10x my productivity. You should try it too.

AI quality will only get better over time.

[NinjaBro]

Fell asleep 10 mins into the pod.

[Thaddy]

Won 30 games last year with no Ingram and IQ didn't play most of the season, when he did he was on a minute restriction.

These two are probably our best chances of getting all stars on our team. If Barnes takes a step forward he's also in contention for an all star spot. Those are bets the best president in sports made. The Raptors can get to 50 wins but the limitation will be coaching.

I would guess we keep Darko and give him 2-3 playoff runs to make things happen similar to Casey. The idea will be that he develops our players and assets while they make trades and improve as much as possible. Then you grab a great playoff coach and see what happens.

[anotherhomer]

A few keys...
Barnes stick with his optimal shot diet i.e. closer to basket
Iq sticks to shooting with some playmaker

Give the ball to ingram

[bballsparkin]

Won 30 games last year with no Ingram and IQ didn't play most of the season, when he did he was on a minute restriction.

These two are probably our best chances of getting all stars on our team. If Barnes takes a step forward he's also in contention for an all star spot. Those are bets the best president in sports made. The Raptors can get to 50 wins but the limitation will be coaching.

I would guess we keep Darko and give him 2-3 playoff runs to make things happen similar to Casey. The idea will be that he develops our players and assets while they make trades and improve as much as possible. Then you grab a great playoff coach and see what happens.

Putting a 50 win total on the Raptors coaching seems extreme. Baby steps. Let's see his game management and end of game X and O's first. Time for the players to step up.

[Thaddy]

Won 30 games last year with no Ingram and IQ didn't play most of the season, when he did he was on a minute restriction.

These two are probably our best chances of getting all stars on our team. If Barnes takes a step forward he's also in contention for an all star spot. Those are bets the best president in sports made. The Raptors can get to 50 wins but the limitation will be coaching.

I would guess we keep Darko and give him 2-3 playoff runs to make things happen similar to Casey. The idea will be that he develops our players and assets while they make trades and improve as much as possible. Then you grab a great playoff coach and see what happens.

Putting a 50 win total on the Raptors coaching seems extreme. Baby steps. Let's see his game management and end of game X and O's first. Time for the players to step up.

How many games do you think Ingram and IQ add collectively?

Then we should add games since the East got weaker.

Add some more because of a young roster adding another year.

I'd argue we're in that 45-50 range.

[ConSarnit]

Won 30 games last year with no Ingram and IQ didn't play most of the season, when he did he was on a minute restriction.

These two are probably our best chances of getting all stars on our team. If Barnes takes a step forward he's also in contention for an all star spot. Those are bets the best president in sports made. The Raptors can get to 50 wins but the limitation will be coaching.

I would guess we keep Darko and give him 2-3 playoff runs to make things happen similar to Casey. The idea will be that he develops our players and assets while they make trades and improve as much as possible. Then you grab a great playoff coach and see what happens.

If he were the best president in sports he wouldn’t have gotten fired. Certainly he hasn’t earned that title from the last 3-4 years.

Vegas has our over/under at 37.5 wins. 50 wins seems like a big reach. If Poeltl misses any time we’re in big trouble. Ingram is no model of health. Absolutely everything would have to go right for us to win 50.