Latest / The PNW Podcast / Rip City Is Back? The Blazers Have Portland Believing Again

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Rip City Is Back? The Blazers Have Portland Believing Again · The PNW Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's that feel is back.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: And not since 2000 have I felt it to where it's like City United.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I think we need as a as a community, we need the Blazers to be good right now, more than we ever have.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's the same thing of why I love sports is sports is the one thing that can bring us all together, even for five minutes or for an hour.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: No one cares about your political or religious affiliation.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: I don't care.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: You don't care.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: We're ducks right now, or we're blazers, we're beavers, we're these things that allow us to take all the negativity out of it and just have a common goal.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: One thing that cures so much is winning.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel an energy going on with people right now where everybody wants to talk about, even the person who kind of doesn't care game to game.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: They don't care about the stats that we're reading, but they like a good feel.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: And they like that when everyone around them is happy, and so they need the Blazers to win for happiness.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: There's hope again.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and I think you'd hit the nail on the head.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: This community has rallied around the Blazers since they became a franchise.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: This is our team, and this community has backed the Blazers from day one.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: You keep getting dubs.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: This becomes a team that we're rallying around.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Games are selling out, the buzz is around the arena, the bars are full.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: This is what this is what Blazer basketball is all about.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: This is what Rip City is all about, and we get to live it right now.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome into the PW podcast, hanging out in the studio here at Stafford Hills Club.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: As I have been uh loving the new renovations over at the gym, state-of-the-art stuff.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: I've been doing box jumps, which I thought that for sure I was too old for box jumps.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I just envisioned me falling directly on my face, knocking a couple of teeth out, and wandering out the back door.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: But I've been working on it, did some high rocks classes where it was a requirement, and there were all these ladies doing box jumps next to me.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, okay, well, here's your make your moment, your make your moment.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: So here we go.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: Boom.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: Now I can do box jumps.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: And really good for the legs.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: It'll it'll take chicken legs like mine and improve them dramatically.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: So check it out, staffordhills.com.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: They got everything you need.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: That saltwater pool, you got the hot tub, the sauna, the steam room.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes they just disappear into this place.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: And then, of course, you got the kids' club.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: So if you need a few minutes to get your mind right before you go back to your kids, I always say you're a better parent when you're rested and you've had a chance to do something for yourself.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: So staffordhills.com, tell them Drew sent you for half off your initiation.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, lucky enough to have another podcast with my old buddy Ryan Messick in studio.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I mentioned in the last episode, we're gonna have him back for the Fit for Radio podcast and discuss what he does with the rest of his life, which is pretty impressive, stuff that dates all the way back to when we were kids.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember um, you know, a lot of your aspirations, you know, to manage bands and to, you know, and some of the things you do now, I remember thinking, like, well, how does that actually like work out?
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know, because like same thing with my career.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, so you're just gonna be on the radio?
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how's that gonna work out?
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so for some people it does, and it takes a long grind and it's impressive.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: And when we have more time, I would like you to come in the studio and we can sit down for that and get your whole story out there.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but for now, of course, he is the co-host of the Wolf of Walsh Street podcast with Ryan James.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: The two of them break down teams in the NFL parlays that work, manipulate those lines to find a way to make you a little bit of scratch.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: And the way this NFL season has been so unpredictable, you need a couple of pros who are gonna get there for you.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: The Wolf of Walsh Street podcast available on Spotify and YouTube.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, I'm gonna talk to you guys about why you're not on Apple Podcasts, but that's just one more click.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: We'll just get you clicked in there.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: If it's not there, maybe by the time you hear this, we'll have it there as well.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm on some obscure ones too.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like there's like 10 other podcasts where it's like angryandgrumpypodcast.com.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like, okay, just throw me in.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: I fit well.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: But uh, thanks for coming in the studio, buddy.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, thanks for having me.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so we talked um a lot about the ducks in the last episode.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: If you missed that, you can go back and check it out.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: They're all there at the PNW podcast.com.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: But what I am really excited to talk to you about is the Portland Trailblazers, who, you know, we've been watching this team for a long time.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: We've been watching Damian Lillard for a long time.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: He's returned home uh with a star-studded cast now.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: Danny Abby is absolutely incredible, an all-star.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: Ja Morant is a two-time all-star himself.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: And this team, it doesn't stop there.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: It goes very deep, um, all the way to like the Drew Holidays, Donovan Klingon, Robert Williams III.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: There's just, I could go on and on and on.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's the deepest Blazer team I remember since the jailblazer era.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and a lot of people are excited.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: We won big in the opener against the Phoenix Suns, starting the game on a 21-0 run.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: It was, it felt like an out-of-body experience.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: It feels like the thing that happens to us, not for us.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: And so I loved that.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: They end up winning that game 124-83.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: They don't play a single star in the fourth quarter.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: I know that because I had a series of DraftKings parlays that exploded in the waning.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, put him back in.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: Put him back in.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: We're up by too much.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: I just needed two points.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: I needed two points from Denny, and I needed like another rebound from Robert Williams, the third.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: A win's a win, and we'll take it.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: That's why you can't hang your hat on the parlays, but they didn't play him in the fourth quarter and still just an amazing storyline there.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: Then they do follow that up with another win against the Kings.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, not as dramatic, only one by eight, but uh still passing it all around to uh Tamani Kamara and Lillard 19 points.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: I think it was 26 points in a real sneaky, quiet way for Denny.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: This team looks like something special.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: Now, uh there are some test games coming up.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's only two games, but what is your initial feel after what you've seen?
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think you have to be excited about this Bledger team.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the return of Dame.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: I was at that home opener.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: I got electric.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: I got chills standing in that arena.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: It was the it was the loudest I've heard the Rose Garden for in years.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um Denny has emerged as a true number one.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: And what I loved, my my biggest takeaway from that, from that first game and and from the and and from the Sacramento game, but from that first game especially, being there watching this in person, was how this team shares the ball and how unselfish everyone was.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's the that that's always the question when you have either multiple point guards or multiple typical guys who are used to handling the ball.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Denny is a small forward who plays point guard.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: He's 6'8, he can he he's he's really maneuverable, um, but he loves bringing the ball up.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: John Morant has been a point guard his whole life.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Damian Lillard, point guard his whole life.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Drew Holiday, point guard his whole life.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: Watching Dame play off the ball in that first game and with with no ego and able there's a trust there, which is wild for with with you know with just kind of integrating John Morant.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um Jaws' skill has never never been questioned.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's the off-the-field stuff, the off-the-court stuff, yeah, you know, the stuff in the club.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: And that can be cleaned up.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: And that can be cleaned up.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: You're in Memphis with no other kind of mentor there, where he was the guy.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: There's no one to tell him no.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: You come here, you've got a vet and Dame Lillard who's as respected as it gets.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: You got a vet and Drew Holiday as respected as it gets, who both play both point guards who have done this for 10, 12 years.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: They're grown men, they're dads.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: They're, you know, like they they have moral compass.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, Dame's a Dame's a first ballot Hall of Famer.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: Drew Holiday's won a championship.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: That that guy's as rock solid as it gets.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: You can't come in and try and be some, you know, like gangster and think that those guys are gonna let it slide.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: So all that said, the the the unselfishness is incredible.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: The fact that Dame had the trust that he knows the ball is gonna come back around to him.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: Kamara doesn't need his shot, but when you kick when you kick him the rock, he can knock down that three.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: Klingon down low.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: Klingan's not looking for the shot, but he can hit the three if you leave him wide open.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: And then he's going down and he wants to get 12 boards a game.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like that dude just that dude fights, that dude cares.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: And Robert Williams might be my favorite player on the team.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: When he's healthy, he is dangerous.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: Robert Williams is 6'9 and plays like he's a seven-footer.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that dude blocks shots like a seven-footer.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: He gets he gets in position.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: He's just a cerebral basketball player.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: He's powerhouse, too.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: Time Lord's basketball IQ is insane.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: And the way that he gets in the right position to either grab rebounds, block shots, or get that put back is it's it's it's savant level.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: And it's for him, it's just staying healthy.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think for this entire roster, and this goes for a lot of teams in the NFL, but especially teams with guys who you know you have some vets there, you and you have you guys that have had previous injuries.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's all about being healthy.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I mean, we can we can wax poetic on you know on this roster and and what's possible, but you know, if Dane goes down or if Denny goes down, or if you know, if you have multiple, you know, guys going down throughout the season, then it's kind of all for naught.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: So number one, stay healthy, but the chemistry early is extremely exciting to see.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: And the fact that that's coming out now, if you continue to have success, there's no reason for those guys to all of a sudden start demanding the ball.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, Jaws scored, I think, 14 and you know, he's averaging about 14 a game in these first couple games.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: He seems fine with that.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know, he seems fine getting six, seven, eight assists, being the guy that sure, when it's my turn, I'll go, but everyone's kind of taking taking those turns, and they're all I think they all see the greater good here.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, absolutely.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: And you you look at the ability to hit from the perimeter, Dame with six threes in that first game.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: Kamara is the the cool thing about him, and Mike Anori said this when he looked at the stat line in the second game, and he's like 18 points.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't call a single play for him today.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: And so if you have someone who can clean up when, say, a play is called for someone else, it doesn't materialize, you kick out and you have that confidence that he's gonna hit, the dame's gonna hit, the Drew's gonna hit, you know, it just goes on and on and on.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: And we're talking about a team who's missing a year ago, you know, Shaden Sharp would be considered the third best player on the team.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: He's still a human highlight reel.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: He's injured till Christmas.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: When we get him back, I mean, it's almost an embarrassment of riches.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: And who knows what will happen with the Blazers if they start getting to where you have a colossal number of wins.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're packaging some of these players to try and bring in the final piece.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: But I don't think we even need that right now because they also said, Nori also said that uh across the age gap, you know, where you have guys late 30s all the way down to 20 somethings, and they're getting along and coexisting like it doesn't matter, you know.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: And and he said, of course, there are little clicks and people that you associate with a little bit more, and some are more in the phone than others, but still for them to have that camaraderie after two or three games is pretty impressive.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: It is, you know, and I think one of those young guys that has impressed and again has kind of been able to check his ego at the door, Scoot Henderson, where you know you have this uh a number three pick, hasn't quite lived up to the pick number.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: But if Scoot was a late first round pick, that expectation level wouldn't be so high.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: So part of we would think we got to steal.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: And we would think we got to steal because we have a dude who can come off the bench who's extremely athletic.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: And if he's not asked to be the guy, which with this roster, he absolutely is not, doesn't need to be the guy.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: You bring that spark, you've got that guy coming off as your seventh or eighth guy off the bench.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I mean, this is that was one thing that that also struck me.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: The second Dame got subbed out, first person in, true holiday.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, we just lost nothing.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: We you know, maybe the three-point shooting dropped a touch, but we just gained, you know, one of the best defensive point guards in the NBA.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, that's a net because his basketball IQ makes up for any sort of shot, like even all the way back to where I think he was a pelican back in the day.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted him on our team so bad.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: And when we traded for him, and they're like, Oh, they're gonna buy out holiday and he's gonna be gone.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, just begging, like, no, no, no, no, no, no, please stay, don't do that.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: And like the fact that he didn't go diva mode then and he stayed, and now he's looking at these riches.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he was mad he got traded from Milwaukee, and now Milwaukee's a wasteland.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it's it's one of those deals where it's kind of like all an accumulation of earned greatness for these guys, and Dame coming home is the cherry on top because I'm a diehard Damian Lillard fan.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: I I was at the dagger against Houston.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: I was at the Thunder game when he sent Paul George and he was he basically ended Westbrook's time.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like it was those moments are some of my great, and I've been at the greatest duck games of all time.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: But those two moments, just jump hugging strangers, running through the hallway and just slamming into a stranger and just like hugging and holding and just like almost crying like a child over it.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like so many of us have core memories associated to that man that when he left, even though he's the one who kind of ruffled the feather to get it started, you know, he thought, oh, maybe they're not gonna trade me.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: And then it happened.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: And and it was like, even if we brought him back just to make it okay, that was gonna be fine.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: But now it's dame time all of a sudden again.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, the batteries are back in his watch.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: He's tap tapping that thing, and it looks like Dame of old.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: Now he doesn't, he's not required to score every point now.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: If he can score 16 to 20 points a game, we're fine.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and I think that's that's the beauty of this roster.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: The pressure is not on one guy.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: Where last year Denny obviously became the guy, but the pressure there was a lot of pressure on Denny because the offense seemingly had to had to run through him.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: Where now you've got three legitimately three guys who are used to having the offense run through them in Denny and Dame and Jaw.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: Those guys now, if they can continue to share the ball, you have an ego-less Drew Holiday, which is amazing, coming off the bench and he's fine with it.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: Where doesn't care.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: Where he then can run the offense.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: You don't you don't miss a beat, and then everybody on the front line, none of those guys need to need X number of shots.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: Klingan doesn't need X number of shots.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: Robert Williams doesn't need X number of shots.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, uh on the wing, CeeDee Sissoko doesn't need X number of shots, but CeeDee's gonna play damn good defense and he's and and he's gonna run the floor and he's gonna hustle and he's gonna get that shot when he, you know, like when it's there.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: Kamara isn't looking for his shot, but Kamara will take that shot.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: And if he can continue to hit to knock down threes, he is your true three and three and D guy.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like he he led the league in charges taken last year.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: This dude can like we Yeah, he's all NBA when it comes to his defensive ability.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: And if and if you're gonna play small ball, which the Blazers are, you know, minus we've got, you know, so you got Klingon, you've got Robert Williams coming off the bench.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: But that's really it for size.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's really it for size, you know.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: So you've uh but the NBA is shifting.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: So many teams are going small.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: So many teams are going center and essentially small forward down.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: The power forward position has really changed.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, maybe you've got like uh, you know, a big guy, but that's a big guy who's who who shoots threes.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like so your traditional Carl Malone power forward doesn't really exist in the in in the NBA anymore.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's way more like the Chet Holmgren's of the power forward position who you know they can move.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: He might be 7'1, but he's you know, but he's 203.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: And he's running the court.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: And you you look all the way through time, even blazer time, you know, Zach Randolph, uh, Lamarcus Aldridge, it's Russian Wallace, yeah.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: Get into the front court, set piece, drop it down inside, shaky shaky shot, and which is fine.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: Jump the ball into the post.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's fun to watch then, but it's not where we're at now.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: No, because that was dump the ball into the post, and for all three of those guys we just mentioned, they were taking that shot.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: And you and you knew the second it went down low, we're waiting for the shot.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: You get it anywhere close to the block, Rashid's gonna do a fadeaway, you know, Lamarcus is gonna do his fadeaway.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: Up over the top.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then Zach is just trying to try and bang you and bang you and then get his shot up.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Those guys want, those guys needed the shot.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: They wanted to make sure that they took 20 a game.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: There's not a single guy on this team who is counting.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't look like there's a single guy on this team who is counting attempts.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, no, and I think that's what we need.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna take a quick break, come back with Ryan Mesick for a few more minutes as we talk Blazers.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: We got to talk a little bit about the coach and the state of the team coming up in a second.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: The podcast is brought to you by Motosport Hillsboro, your one-stop shop for all of your off-road needs, whether you're looking for a side-by-side, a dirt bike, maybe a street bike, also e-assist mountain bikes.
• 18:05
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• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: So we're talking the rise of the Portland Trailblazers.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that first game was so electric, not just the 50-point win and everybody getting a piece of it.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: So it was it was like a lot of camaraderie there.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, my good buddy Travis DeMurs now calling the games on television.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, one of their clips went viral when Lamar uh was calling Dame's like fifth or sixth three, and he's like, throw it up, Dame, throw it up.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like, and they're like, oh my God, this guy's voice is cracking.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: He's so excited.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: And it just everybody turned into a fan in the moment, you know, and and I was in that same boat, and people are texting me, like, you watching this game right now?
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_01: We're just not used to the hype train going back like this.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: I can't, I can't remember where people have been this excited this early in many years.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: Now, early 2000s, right before Shaq and Kobe pulled my spine out of my neck like a Mortal Kombat uh finishing move.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: That was a time where we all were Rip City.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: We had it in the windows of the house, in the in the back car window, you had those little placards.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: That was a big time for us.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: But even any time after that, we've been good or decent, but never like, oh, we can make a run, like a run run.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, like we made it to the Western Conference Finals and got swept by the Warriors that one year.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_01: And even though we had uh double-digit leads in the first two games of that, it it never felt like it was going to happen.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: Now, it's we're in the first handful of games.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: This whole thing could go sideways, but it feels different.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I really like the coach, and I liked Splitter.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: I thought he was I thought he was a good coach, but this guy, he feels like a player's coach in the way that he's just he can kind of gel men together from all different sizes and all different walks of life to make them a cohesive unit.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: It feels different.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: Does it feel like something special?
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: It does, and I think you know.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: A lot has been made of the contract that Mike andori signed and how that might be bad for the coaching fraternity.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um I'm sure I'm sure it's not great.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, cool, cause it sets a standard of perform and get off the phone.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because it's t it's technically a three-year deal, but it's a one-year deal with a team option.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: So it's completely out of your hands.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: So it's completely out of his hands.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: And when I sign a contract like that, I always say, I got a one-year contract.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: I got a one-year deal.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's for 1.5 million, which is the I think the lowest in the NBA.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think uh um uh Chr uh Doug Christie in in Sacramento makes around two, and he's like the next lowest.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um but what I do love about it is this is a guy betting on himself, and this is a coach who now, if you know it's a one-year deal and the only way that they re-sign you is have success, you got nothing to lose.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you got to lose.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I think that the fact that he was the one who he signed on the dotted line.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: No one forced his hand to sign that deal.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: He does it does seem like he already has the players on his side.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: They're already playing team basketball, which is exactly what you want to see.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I mean, he doesn't he was an assistant coach in uh in in Minnesota.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: Balancing to me goes there.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I mean, Anthony Edwards is is is not a uh as is you know is a big personality.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so you've got you've got him and you got Rudy Gobert, who has his own, you know, needs and wants and kind of is a is a unique diva-ish type dude.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's got a history of diva behavior.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, if you're able to navigate that landscape, it shows that you can go in and deal with some bigger personalities.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the fact that he's already got this team playing such such, you know, sharing the ball so well, it means that he's cut through some of that bullshit that might possibly have been there.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I mean, I think the biggest question is gonna be the Western Conference is so is so tough.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um can we get out of it?
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: Can we can we navigate the landscape?
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I mean, Jay Jalen Williams just had a gruesome injury.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh that helps a little for for and so what's wild is I was watching uh you know some breakdown of that, and they were saying, like, who does that help?
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then the and the answer was it helps everyone else in the NBA.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because he's a stud.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: He is a high talent guy.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: To me, he's Scottie Pippen.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: You know, he has that same intangible, like he's not the star too.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: He's not the star of the team, but he's an all-star level talent and run and gun.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: And they lost Kasen Wallace or uh Carson Wallace, who was their like fifth starter, torn labram.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: He's out indefinitely.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: Both these guys, you know, are supposed to miss months potentially the season.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: That right there takes the juggernaut that is the Oklahoma City Thunder.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: It it has to knock them down a rung.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: The Spurs are uh are a force to be reckoned with.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, no one really knows how to deal with Wemby until the Knicks did.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and they have the three guard system doing a lot of what we're doing and running a smaller group.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: So, one thing that I that makes me even more excited about this Blazer team, Kevin Garnett was interviewed uh on a podcast and asked if there's one team in the league that you would want to go coach, who would it be?
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: And his question was GM or coach?
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: He said, Coach.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: And without much hesitation, he said the Portland Trailblazers.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a guy who was a dominant power forward in this league, doing a lot of what we were talking about with the Aldridges and the Randolphs and you know, the and those other big dogs.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: That was him.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: And so he likes this style of play.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: This is someone who knows ball and is seeing the landscape of the NBA change.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: And he's he's like, he's like, just watch out.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: This year is the year of small basketball.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, more and more teams are going away from again that traditional center, big power forward, you know, big, big, big small forward, shooting guard, point guard.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like you're gonna see a lot of three guard lineups out there when your quote unquote four is really a small forward.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we can go big and we can put Williams and Klingon in together, but you rarely see that.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: And even when, when, when, when Rob Williams is the center in there, we're really small technically.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, again, he's 6'9, and so then you're dealing with you know a true kind of run and gun, where if if if we stay uh in this extremely disciplined, you know, share the basketball mentality, these guys are gonna fire and drop and drop bombs on anybody.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think Denny is he is the X Factor.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I love Dame forever.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: My jersey is Dame.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I want to talk to you about wearing that jersey out this last week and how what that response has been.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: But before I tell you that, Denny is a special guy.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: Now he lives down the street from me, and I I see him, I've seen him on his boat, in the canal, all this other stuff.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_01: He's an incredibly gracious and kind person.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: He lives in a somewhat humble house for like us we go, but he also, you know, hasn't gotten his$200 million deal, like I believe he's gonna get at some point.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: The guy is an absolute workhorse and a powerhouse because the way he plays the game and bangs around down low, he can step out, he can shoot, he can, he can drive and kick out.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_01: And if he just is like, nah, I'm getting my shot, he's the guy.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: If other than like a jab step fallback three, I mean, he has all of the skills that Luca has without being a little bit of a lunchbox.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: There's few players in the entire league that are more aggressive than Denny Avia.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: The way he gets downhill, and it's he is when he's determined to get to the rim, he's getting to the rim.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: He's more aggressive than Luca is.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: Now Luca's a more talented shooter.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: Luka just has natural talent.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Luca's a look Luca has a way to slow the game down that is extremely unique and it's special.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's Luca's a special player, Luca's an MVP candidate for a reason.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, and I think you have to look at this.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: Denny is his own beast, but Denny's superpower is I can get to the rim at any time against anyone.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he's not afraid.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: When he decides to go for it, and that's why he goes to the line so much, you know.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: So I think I mean the sneaky 26 he got against Sacramento is the it's the definition of why he's an undeniable all-star because they would love to have not made him an all-star last year, but it was undeniable.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_01: The stats are like, okay, well, he's number one in the league in that, number two in that, number one in that, number one in that, number one in that.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you just can't.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_01: And so now that he's now that we've broken through the ice, it's gonna be like Dame, I think he'll be a five, six-time all-star.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Denny, I and I believe he at some point it was during the season, and I think he ended the season right about this.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: He was in like that 25, 6, and 5.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: There was only a handful of guys in the entire league with those stats, and it was all dudes who are perennial all-stars.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: First ballot Hall of Famers, that type of stuff.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: And Denny has just leapfrogged into that fraternity.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's amazing to see, and I think that Dame knows that Denny's the number one option.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think Jaw knows that that Denny's the number one option, but Denny himself doesn't have to, he's also willing to give the ball up.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's not using ego in this.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: Whereas in other people be like, well, you're you're the alpha.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: He doesn't treat it like that.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: He might, his stats make him look like the alpha dog, but he's willing to pass the ball away.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I keep an eye on his stats because that's one of my favorite things to bet on.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, because he is just undeniable that he will get, I mean, if you go and, you know, the the wolf of Wall Street is uh is allotted where you're looking at the little numbers inside the game.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_01: If you take Denny's, like take his rebounds and drop it down two rebounds and bet more, he's gonna hit it almost every single game.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: He's so consistent.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, if you pull Denny points down to 20, Denny rebounds and assists down to five apiece, he's gonna be going over all three of those in 85% of games.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: So it's crazy.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I what last thing I want to talk to you about is so I was wearing my hit, I was able to knock the dust off my Lillard jersey.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_01: Now, one thing about Lillard is it's forever.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_01: Even if he didn't come back, you can wear a Lillard any day at the Moda Center and not one head turns to the side like you don't ever get new gear because he's earned it long term.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_01: There's many Blazers we can name who you can wear their jerseys forever.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_01: But it was nice to knock the dust off my favorite jersey and put it back on where he's playing for our team.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I have a history of if I buy the jersey, they're leaving.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like it doesn't matter.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_01: I my Vikings jersey is a Thielen jersey.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: He's from Minnesota, and they immediately traded him Carolina or he signed as a free agent.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it was weird.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like, so I was I went to the grocery store.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_01: I went, uh, I came out the front door of the club here.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_01: I and you know, I hold doors for people, other people do it for me here.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm holding the door, and it's like one person after another, as they're coming through the door, it's like, oh my God, we're looking tough.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like one guy's like, Are you my neighbor?
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, no, he's like, Oh, I thought you and I were talking Blazers like in the street the other day.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, no, but we can talk now.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_01: And so me and this guy talk for five minutes.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't know him from Adam.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just, it's that feel is back.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_01: And not since 2000 have I felt it to where it's like City United.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I think we need as a community, we need the Blazers to be good right now, more than we ever have.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's the same thing of why I love sports is sports is the one thing that can bring us all together, even for five minutes or for an hour.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like when you're at a duck game and you score a touchdown and we're all want that so bad, no one cares about your political or religious affiliation.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_01: I don't care.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_01: You don't care.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: We're ducks right now, or we're blazers, we're beavers, we're these things that allow us to take all the negativity out of it and just have a common goal.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_01: Whoop that other team as a group.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I think, especially with all of the drama with the Moda Center, and are we gonna get the contract and the new owner and being a penny pincher?
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_01: And is that true, or is that smoke and mirrors?
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_01: One thing that cures so much is winning.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel an energy going on with people right now where everybody wants to talk about, even the person who kind of doesn't care game to game.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_01: They don't care about the stats that we're reading, but they like a good feel and they like that when everyone around them is happy.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_01: And so they need the Blazers to win for happiness.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh there's hope again, you know, and I think you nailed hit the nail on the head.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: This community has rallied around the Blazers since they became a franchise.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you you you kick it off early with a championship in '77 with Bill Walton.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: You've got the Seans coining Rip City, you had the Drexler era, you had the you know, the the jailblazers, now you have the Dame era, and the Dame era's back.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_00: This is this is our team, and this community has backed the Blazers from day one.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the stuff that you mentioned about Dundan and the arena, I'm I really hope that that gets cleared up because it sounds like that needs to be a decision that needs to be made by December before it kicks into 2027.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_00: And we lose the funding.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: So hopefully we'll know, you know, sooner than later if you know if that if if that lease signs, the second we can get that put to bed, that eases some people's tension.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um and like you said, winning cures all of that.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: Where you keep getting dubs, and all of a sudden you're the five seed, you're the six seed, you're the four seed, maybe you're the three seed.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: This becomes a team that we're rallying around, games are selling out, the buzz is around the arena, the bars are full.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_00: This is what this is what Blazer basketball is all about.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: This is what Rip City is all about, and we get to live it right now, dude.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I choose to sit, well, um, you know, partially because I have access to the tickets, but front row of the 300 level is my favorite spot because your view is the same as the skybox or the sweets.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_01: You have that rail, that metal rail where you can just absolutely rap on that thing.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_01: And then you turn around, and the most passionate, you know, they've given every dollar to be here, and they care so much about the Blazers and and to celebrate with them is on another level.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_01: And and it just kind of it's a it's a pull, it's a finger on the pulse of the city.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I just hope that we can keep that momentum going and and it's gonna, it's fuel for the city, and it's and it's really it's good for the soul of us just to kind of have something to root for together.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like, because even ducks and beeves is a house divided.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_01: I even self-deprecating posts about the ducks, people are like, yeah, you bitch.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like I didn't, I I said that we're having a bad year.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like I didn't say anything about you, but some people are just so jaded in it.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_01: And the one thing that we can all agree on is the Blazers and Rip City, and haters will still be like, Oh, yeah, they're gonna look great in you know, Savannah, Georgia in their new city or whatever.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, okay, let's just pump the brakes one thing at a time.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_01: Winning cures not everything, but almost everything.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_01: And if those owners can see the way that this place rallies and they can come to a playoff game, it's as loud and as agitated as any place in the country.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_01: Not disrespectful, but so intense when it's going ham.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_01: And you look back, just go watch the YouTube clip of the Houston game or the Thunder game when it and on both occasions, I've always told people, like, what was that like to be there that day?
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I say, it's the closest thing to a bomb going off in the building, but it's not an explosion, it's like full of confetti and happiness.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so the place shook and was so crazy.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_01: I remember my nephew, I think he was in like fourth grade, and I just lifted him up, just like Simba up over my head.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, you feel no pain.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_01: You you it's all excitement.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm just really jazzed for it.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I know you're a diehard Blazer fan.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'm glad that you're able to be here and to experience it.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_01: And if this continues, I'd love to have you back on and we can do like a little mid-season special and talk about the whole thing.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_01: Count me in.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_01: Count me in.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_01: Sounds good.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_01: Well, make sure you check out Ryan and RJ as they host the Wolf of Walsh Street podcast.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_01: Go and subscribe to it now.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_01: You can check it out on Spotify.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_01: Also on YouTube where you can see the video feed, and they'll help you through your Sunday picks.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_01: Your fantasy team's dying.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you can make a little cash on DraftKings.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_01: And those parlays, they're always putting in extra effort not to just guess about a game.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_01: They're really uh analytical about it, and I love it.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, thank you so much for being here, bro.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_01: And remember, every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, new episodes of the PNW Podcast.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_01: Check out my other show, the Fit for Radio Podcast.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_01: You can actually access it all at the PNW podcast.com.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_01: Ryan Messik, thanks for being here, bro.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, thanks for having me, Jim.