OverDrive - OverDrive - December 30th, 2024 - Hour 3

Episode Date: December 31, 2024

Join Jim Tatti and Dave Feschuk for Hour 3 on OverDrive! TSN Hockey Insider Chris Johnston joins to discuss the biggest storylines around the NHL, Auston Matthews' injury timeline and the Maple Leafs' search for center depth on the team. The guys are joined by TSN Basketball Analyst Leo Rautins to dive into the Raptors' losing streak, the team's path to success and Scottie Barnes' role as the number one option and Doogie hands out his FanDuel Best Bets.

The Weeknd brings Hurry Up Tomorrow to Rose Bowl Stadium in Los Angeles on January 25th for one night only. Get there with iHeartRadio. Two tickets to the show, flights and hotel from TripCentral.ca, plus $500 cash. For your chance to win, enter every day at iHeartRadio.ca. You guys are beautiful. An iHeartRadio experience. The Weeknd in L.A. Jump! Jump! Powered by TripCentral.ca. You guys are beautiful. An iHeartRadio experience. The weekend in L.A. Powered by TripCentral.ca.

The smarter way to book travel. CHUM AM Toronto is TSN 1050, an iHeartRadio station, and the voice of Toronto sports. This is Overdrive with Hayes, Noodles, and and the o-dog on tsn 1050 hour number three overdrive jim tatty dave fest jack with you subbing for o-dog hayes and noodles and now on tsn2 continuing on tsn 1050 overdrive is brought to you by fanduel bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score uh chris johnson will be by very shortly on the maple toyota hotline uh dallas stars got fined 100k today for having some sort of team function on december 26 i don't know why teams do this it's clear you can't do it, and they did it, and now I guess $100,000 to them isn't much, but nonetheless.

Well, yeah, they ran an optional skate on Boxing Day, which is against the CBA. It's directly in the CBA that Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day are days you can't ask players to do anything. And the Leafs got fined a few years back, Tatman, for traveling on Boxing Day, which is a violation of the cap and understandable violation. They wanted to get where they were going ahead of it,

but to the letter of the law, the Stars violated it and they were punished for it. See, that flying on Boxing Day, I mean, that makes sense because you're playing on the 27th. Why would you want to fly in on the same day? Because the NHL doesn't operate that way normally. You fly in the night before.

Yeah, and there's teams that have done it by waiting until midnight. You know, you wait until midnight on Boxing Day, so then you're technically flying on December 27th instead of December 26th. But then you're getting in later than usual. Is that good for your team? Is that better for your team than just waiting until the morning after flying in the day of the game, which is also unusual. So either way you look at it, because the NHL,

it's the only league that really does this. All the other leagues are playing on Christmas Day. The NHL has this little carved out this three-day break for the players on Christmas and Christmas Eve and Boxing Day. And so it does present some challenges for teams trying to stick to their routine. And, you know, I guess the Stars

are trying to stick to theirs and they got banged for it. They did. A reminder here, don't forget to make your prediction for the final game in First Up's Monday Night Football Jackpot. Head to tsn1050.ca.

Predict the score and winning team of tonight's game, Lions and Niners. You have until 7 o'clock, which isn't too far from now, to make your prediction. If you're right, you could win the jackpot. Full details at tsn1050.ca. That's the First Up Monday Night Jackpot. 1050.ca that's the first up monday night jackpot um i guess you know we're going to talk to cj a lot about the trade deadline where the leafs go what they're looking at um and you and i talked on leaf sky which airs at noon on tsn 1050 every day monday to friday um that fraser minted i mean obviously there's a numbers problem there but but when they had all those forwards out and Fraser Minton was there,

seemed to be a better look, didn't it? Yeah, it did. He's a guy that plays with tremendous IQ, tremendous energy, which are two things there in short supply every time in the bottom six. Or certainly, if it's not short supply, it's not sufficient supply for a team that wants to style itself as a championship contender in this league. You know, they're just not getting enough smart plays, impactful plays, scoring plays from their bottom six this season in general.

We've documented that again and again and again. And so Minton, I thought, brought a nice breath of, you know, heady play mixed with really that young guy push that you need. And they've got a bunch of not-so-young guys like the Holmbergs and the Camps of the world that just aren't kind of putting up the kind of numbers and making the kind of impact that you'd like to see. And so you do start looking for answers, and maybe Minton could be one of them down the road here.

Yeah, I mean, if you're starting a playoff series with that Leaf lineup tomorrow, would you have, I'm not going to put words in your mouth, would you have Holmberg and Kampf down the middle? Well, if it is what it is today with Matthews out of the lineup, then you probably have to. I mean, you've got to make a trade otherwise. I just don't know what else you do. I mean, you can't, like, to me, to expect Fraser Minton to solve all your problems

in terms of center depth when he's played a grand total of 15 NHL games in his career and he's 20 years old, it's, you know, you're making a big mistake there. You know, not that he couldn't help you, but you can't expect him to help you. And I think expecting him to do anything more than what he's done so far is kind of putting him in a bad spot. And so, you know, look, there's work to do here for Brad Tree Living. That's not, you know, breaking news. But this team needs help.

And you've got between now and March 7th to find it. Yeah, my suggestion is that Fraser Minton is a good sort of midseason, I guess, solution to that problem. I wouldn't see him in the playoffs, but down the road you would. But I just think that they need to bring in center depth because, again, they know what's going on with Austin Matthews, but we don't. But if it's going to sort of track the way it has all season long, definitely need another center.

Yeah, and you hope they know what's going on with Matthews, but I think there's a question mark there. They've miscalculated. It feels like they've miscalculated in bringing him back too early after the initial nine-game absence. Maybe it's something they couldn't have calculated for maybe it's just one of those injuries that's difficult to predict how it's going to react but clearly the fact that he's going to miss his fifth game of this latest absence tomorrow in the afternoon game on new year's eve is not a good sign uh even though we hear from craig bruby that he's getting better

and maybe it'll be nothing maybe in the grand scheme of things in mid-April we won't even barely be looking back at Austin Matthews in those two absences he had because he'll be fine and he'll be back to being who he is but until we see that yeah it is a huge concern and and you have to wonder exactly what the Leafs know uh because if they knew everything you'd hate to think they would have done it this way yeah well that's an interesting premise that maybe they don't but joining us now on the Maple Toyota Hotline is Chris Johnston our TSN Hockey Insider CJ how are you I'm doing well guys how are you good good is there any any tidbit you can give us on the

Austin Matthews just a small little morsel, anything. I mean, I wish I could. You know, I'm hearing a lot of the same sort of encouraging comments that obviously Craig Brubay made to the reporters in Toronto today. But, you know, it's a bit of a frustrating kind of situation. I'm sure no one's more frustrated than Austin Matthews himself, only being able to play 24 games. I think tomorrow's number 38 for the Leafs, so he's only played 60% or so roughly of the games this season.

I'm with Dave. In a sense, it's going to be one of these things. We don't have the crystal ball. We don't know where it's going to go. It could wind up being a whole lot of nothing, and we might say, hey, who cares about the first half of the season when he was only in and out of the lineup a little bit because he had this monster second half and a great playoffs but you know it's it's certainly

you know not not a great sign that he's had to take so much time off and and it doesn't sound like it's anything that they i do think at this point what i've heard is they have a really good idea of what it is i don't have an exact idea idea of what it is myself but that it's not an issue where they're they're they're wondering you know this or myself, but it's not an issue where they're wondering this or that. I think it's a lot of how does it feel for Austin? Is he comfortable playing? And obviously, I think that the general decision that's been reached is why push it at this point?

If there's any doubt, if there's any feeling that it's not at 100%, it's wise to just sit out the games now versus hoping you can get to a point where that's not the case when they get more important. Yeah, no doubt about it, CJ. That makes a lot of sense. But when you look at the center depth problem on this team, and I think it's going to be a conversation we have more than once

between now and the March 7th trade deadline, I mean, what kind of prospects do you think are out there for Brad Treeliving in the early stages of the trade talk around the league? Because Camp hasn't produced at the level they'd hoped he would. Holmberg hasn't produced at the level they hoped he would. We've talked about Minton, Taddy, and I just now about, you know, it would be nice if they could maybe count on him, but it's a lot to ask from a 20-year-old.

But how do you think the Leafs see that their their need for trade to trade for a center in terms of depth and and what do you think might be out there well it's definitely a high priority it actually has been before this Matthew situation you know got to where we are today you know this was something the Leafs front office have kind of had in the back of their minds or even closer to the front of their minds all season long, that it was the most likely area where they'd have to try to bolster things. And I think ideally what you're looking at, I mean, obviously you're not replacing Austin Matthews in any way, shape, or form. So you're hoping if you're in the front office that you've got him in the number one spot,

that you've got John Tavares most likely playing as the number two center on this team and then you know you're probably finding someone who fits as a number three centerman and and you know traditionally those players are out there you know I look at the Oilers last year for example trading for Adam Henrik from Anaheim at the deadline you know they had a nice playoff run with him re-signed him I mean he like that that type of guy is probably what's available. You know, you look around at teams that are probably not in the playoff spot, you know, Yanni Gord, for example, is someone, you know, who's played center throughout his career, been on the wing a little bit more recently in Seattle, but, but, you know,

maybe Fitz is a third line center. I mean, we're not probably talking about a trade in all, you know, unless something unforeseen happens in the next seven, eight, nine weeks. It's probably not going to be a big headline grabber, but I think you're trying to find someone who can produce a little bit of offense, but you can trust defensively to lock things down on the third line. Because in the lineup that's playing right now, Pontus Humberg was their second-line center.

I mean, clearly they don't want to go into any playoff series with that as the plan. You know, sometimes you make plans and someone laughs and you got to adjust on the fly. But certainly, you know, I think you're going to be looking at a third line centerman for them. You know, probably someone with some experience, someone who can win faceoffs that can be trusted defensively, you know, and ideally for the Leafs chip in a bit offensively because, you know, for all the ways we might look at what this this generation of this team has been you know they really have not scored enough in the playoffs and so i think if they can get anything that can help the bottom six contributing a little bit in

a playoff series you know could could be the difference between a short spring and a longer one so a couple ways they could go at this they could bring in somebody for short term or what i hope happens is they actually bring in somebody that speaks to you know to virus over the next two or three years depending on what they're going to do there does does that one make any sense it could it's just those aren't the kind of trades we don't see but you know what this has been actually if you look around the league there's been i would say different sort of trades in the nhl than we usually see to this point in the season. And so I can't rule it out.

I mean, I agree. It makes sense. You know, the Leafs have some big questions to answer with their salary cap picture. I mean, are they resigning Mitch Marner? What's that going to cost? Are they bringing back John Tavares? What's that going to cost? You know, everything kind of flows out of, I think, those decisions, because if the answer is no to either of those questions, they obviously have, you know, a fair bit of cap space to work with in terms of, you know, looking beyond this season.

And, you know, maybe it makes sense to bring in a player with some term on his contract. You know, those haven't been the sort of trades we've seen, but this is a unique time in the NHL. I mean, the cap is finally rising after, you know, a number of years around those pandemic years where it was kind of flat and made it really extremely difficult to move players around. Now, this is an environment where there's going to be more money to spend. I think there's a lot of optimism.

And frankly, I just think there's a lot of teams that are kind of getting to panic mode. I mean, there's just a lot of teams around the league that haven't progressed the way they thought. And so now they're, I think, thinking a little bigger in terms of the sort of moves they might make. And so, you know, I don't have a player to toss out right now and say that this could be the one for the Leafs. But I think that they would be open to that idea if it does present itself. And this might be kind of this chaotic year where that sort of trade is out there and it makes sense for Toronto. Hey, in the category of why do teams do what they do, CJ, explain to us why, you know,

Peter DeBoer, the Dallas Stars would call an optional practice on Boxing Day when it's clearly a violation of the collective bargaining agreement between the league and the players. They know they're going to get fined $100,000 for it. They do it anyway, and they get fined $100,000 for it. They do it anyway, and they get fined $100,000 for it. What do you make of that? Well, I think there's a small amount of gray in this. And, you know, I follow just enough players on Instagram to know that there were other players for other teams that were skating on those days, 24th, 25th, and 26th, where it's not allowed to call sort of what we would call formal team events.

You know, I think where the stars tripped out, quite frankly, is Pierre Dubois gave an interview where he talked about it as a practice, you know, insinuated that the young players, as always, when it becomes an optional practice, you know, didn't really have the option, so to speak. And so I think it was in the framing publicly that they really got nailed on this one. The truth is I think a lot of NHL players do skate during that window,

you know, three days as much as it doesn't sound like a big deal. You know, as high end of athletes as these guys are, that's a long time to take off the ice, and a lot of players don't want to do that. You know, where the CBA comes in here is the team can't make a player, which is essentially an employee, you know, come to work on those days. But if they maybe open the rink and say, hey, guys, just so you know, there's ice time at this time, you don't have at it.

I certainly don't think the Stars were the only team that had players skate during that window, but it's the framing of it as a practice that got them nailed. And you might remember the Leafs got nailed sort of on a similar thing a couple years ago. They flew on December 26th instead of waiting until the 27th, and they got a similar $100,000 fine. So, you know, it's not to excuse it in any way,

but I think that it was a little bit in the gray, and they crossed a little bit. The way it was framed publicly is frankly what nailed them. So, you know, this is probably why coaches don't want to talk to media guys because that's what cost them $100 one of the reasons um i want to ask you about if there's a team that could actually sort of open the trade uh window and get ahead of things i'm looking at the rangers here just absolutely befuddling uh in detroit with a new coach maybe you know there was some talk that the previous coach didn't play the young guys enough and

maybe the new guy doesn't and you figure out the young guys aren't good enough. I mean, who sort of sets or opens the door here for the trade deadline? Well, the Rangers probably would be at the top of the list. You've identified the right one there. I wonder about Buffalo. That was a team I know before the holiday freeze kicked in on rosters was involved in a lot of different trade discussions. I mean, obviously not anything that was so close that it got done the day that that freeze lifted here in the last couple of days.

But, you know, they've been similarly kind of struck with, you know, frustrated expectation. And I think they have a lot of players, teams like they have a lot of players that are supposed to be better than they are, that are young, that haven't performed well. And so, you know, those those might be bigger types of trades. And even Vancouver, kind of a strange time there. Obviously, Pedersen and Hughes currently out injured. But with all the smoke around J.P. Miller and Pedersen and the status of their relationship,

with that team not kind of clicking at the level they did last year when they got all the way to game seven of the second round. If I was to pick one, I think it would be, or pick three rather, would be the Rangers, the Sabres, or the Canucks. I could see sort of kicking off the fireworks the most. And the Rangers probably have to be number one because it's, I mean, that's, I don't even know how to describe this team. I've been around the league a long time.

I don't recall a team that was really good last year and for many years prior to that that really didn't make a lot of personnel changes and it just has not worked. It feels like an organizational almost a culture issue. It feels like maybe the

players going to work is just not like this. I can't really explain it, I guess is what I'm getting at is because on paper, that team is not that much worse or shouldn't be much worse than the one last year, which won the President's Trophy, and they can't even win a game in December right now. So, you know, I do think that there's a high level of alert there

in terms of trying to shake things up even more than they already have with the Trouba trade and the like. CJ, what do you make of Edmonton? I mean, they bring in Jeff Skinner in the offseason on a one-year deal for $3 million, not exactly chump change, expecting him to be a goal scorer that can contribute.

He's got, what, six goals to start the year. He gets healthy scratched last night in Anaheim. They blow a two-goal lead. They lose their second straight on a little California trip. What do you make of Skinner not fitting in there and what they might do about it?

Well, I certainly don't think it's a foregone conclusion. He'll still be there beyond the trade deadline. Edmonton's a team like a lot of teams that have been trying to win the Cup over multiple years. They don't have a ton of cap flexibility. If they're looking at bigger changes, means you know money going out the door not just you know the players that they can bring in and and you're right it really hasn't worked for Skinner and it's it's uh you know to be scratching him at this point in the season is is obviously not a good

sign about how it's gone I mean they picked up Kasperi Kapan Leafs fans obviously familiar with him off waivers you know he's he's basically outperformed Skinner you know he they picked up Kasperi Kapan. Leafs fans are obviously familiar with him off waivers. You know, he's basically outperformed Skinner. You know, he was picked up for free in season and has kind of found a spot at least a little bit in their top six for the time being. And so, you know, those were minutes that were earmarked for Skinner when he signed on July 1st and, you know, just hasn't really blossomed. And I do think that, you know, given how much is riding on the season for the Oilers, that they can't necessarily be patient.

And so, you know, there's still a bit of time for him to salvage things. You know, the training line isn't tomorrow. And, you know, there's a world maybe gets put on a line in the next game and things take off and all this is just a little bit of water under the bridge. But at this point, I certainly think it's his spot on the team, even just for the rain or the season, is tenuous because they're going to have to look to replace him if they feel they can't use him.

And they're also looking for a defenseman, which they have been all year. So I think Edmonton will be one of the pretty active teams as we get closer to March 7th, and that could be players going out in addition to those coming in. A close second of the Rangers story is Nashville. They're just a point ahead of San Jose. I mean, big things were expected there. They spent a lot of money in the offseason.

What's going to happen? They're a total wild card. You know, they have three first-round picks this year, too. So they spent all that money in free agency, and they were sort of geared up potentially to be a team that would be adding, obviously, this season at the deadline with all that the picks had accumulated. And obviously that isn't going to be the case now.

But, you know, they've made sort of a variety of trades. They're trading away some of their older pieces. You know, a guy like Alexander Carey, they traded just to Montreal, who they had signed. I feel like they're completely open for business and looking at a lot of different things. I mean, I think what you'll see in Nashville is that they have some younger players they like in their farm system they're going to bring up as the second half goes along.

And, you know, more than likely, I think there's going to be more guys going out the door. I mean, it's not going to be a complete teardown. You know, we're not talking just to Amcos. You know, the ones who just signed, I don't think that that's what they're looking at, but certainly it didn't work this year. They'd really like another centerman. I think that's been one of the issues

is they brought in Marcia Show and Stamkos, who both play wing at this point in their career. They already had Gus Nyquist and Phillip Forsberg. They have pretty good top six wingers, I would say. They didn't have enough centers to play with those guys, and, you know, the season's sort of gotten away from them. But, you know, Barry Trotz, I think, has made seven trades already this season,

and I wouldn't put it past them to get to 10 or more by the time the deadline comes. So they're a team to watch both as a buyer or a seller. I guess what I'm saying, Jim, is that, you is that I don't think it's one or the other. They're just open to doing anything to shift things up because this season has not gone as planned in any way. The guy who actually jumps off the page when you look at their salary list as a fit in Toronto is Ryan O'Reilly. Is that even possible?

I don't know if you can rule it out, honestly. I mean, I'm not saying he's the least top target or what have you, but I'm with you. It fits in a lot of ways. I don't believe he has any no trade protection in his contract, so obviously it's something that the Predators could look to do. He's the top

line center nationally. He was last year when they made a run to the playoffs. He's an important part of their team, but I think that they will have to make a decision on him. And, you know, he chose to go sign in Nashville as a free agent after his brief time in Toronto a few years ago when he was brought in at the deadline. And so, you know, I don't know exactly how he'd feel about it,

but I don't think you can rule it out as a possibility. And, you know, the fit is there. I mean, I think certainly at this point in his career, whether's a second line center with a team like the least or third i think it makes a lot of sense for a team trying to to win the cup a competitive team um you know i don't want to start any rumors but it you can never say never i i just i don't think nashville will be looking to move him if i'm being honest it's just you know but they they are a team that it feels like they're they're willing to consider everything. There's not a lot of no's.

I don't get the sense in talking around the league to people when they call Barry Trotz. It's not a big list of things you can't do. He's open to doing business. And so let's stay tuned and see if there's a little more smoke there on O'Reilly. Well, if there's smoke on O'Reilly, CJ, I mean, Leaf fans, of course, looking to recapture the one shining moment of playoff glory they've had with the win over Tampa a couple years back.

Why not Luke Shen as well? Why not make it a package deal? Who says no? I mean, I don't think the Leafs would, honestly. You're hitting the nail on the head here. I mean, the defense has been better as a whole this season. Not as good lately, of course. But I feel like something's a little off in that if they could get someone

who could sort of anchor a third pair on the right side, you know, which Shannon did pretty well. I mean, I don't know if it was even the third pair, because he played with Riley a lot in that playoff series against Tampa. But, you know, that would make a lot of sense. So maybe there's a third go-around for Shannon Toronto. I mean, there's worse rumors out there. And certainly at this stage of Luke Shannon's career, I think that, you know, it would make sense for Nashville if they can get something back for him to move him. And so, look, I think that those are, honestly, from a high level, those are fits. It doesn't mean I haven't thought through the Caps' perspective

or I haven't heard specific intel on maybe those players going there, but, you know, both would make sense, and strangely enough, both were with that Leafs team that beat Tampa a couple years ago. CJ, thanks very much. Happy New Year. Yeah, same to you guys. Have a good day

tomorrow thank you uh cj joined us in the maple toyota hotline check out maple toyota's huge truck and suv lineup including tundra forerunner highlander and grand highlander in stock ready to deliver visit maple toyota.com dave i like where you're coming from just because i'm not going to necessarily agree with you on and they get the two guys from nashville but as you bring in a new coach and and the you know the ask is for everybody to play a certain way we don't have the numbers they do but they know that not everybody's going to be converted here i mean obviously there are there's going to be some roster casualties not only because of injury because of the cap but just because i mean nobody's really talked about that much.

Well, you saw with Timothy Lilligren was the first one, right, where he really didn't even get a chance. You know, they signed him to a deal, and then Craig Berube really didn't like what he saw out of Timothy Lilligren right out of the gate. And so he was gone, you know, very quickly because of that. And, yeah, look, I mean, that's a great point, Jim. There's guys who just haven't responded well, who have not adapted well to the new way of doing things in Leafland.

And it's maybe counterintuitive because the superstar guys have done really well. We've been talking about Marner on career-high pace and Willie Nylander up near the league leading goals and John Tavares doing so well at his advanced age. You know, it's been the guys in the bottom of the lineup. You know, Ryan Reeves isn't doing well. He's been scratched how many times now. And, you know, the Kamp and Holmberg story has been told many times

about how they're underperforming compared to expectations. So, yeah, you're going to have to look elsewhere to fill some of these holes. And, hey, man, why not get the band back together? The guys that got them to the second round for the first time in whatever it was, 20-something years, O'Reilly and Shen were a big part of that, and if Barry Trotz is in the mood to deal, Brad Tree Living better be on the phone.

Just looking at their salaries, so Ryan O'Reilly's at 4.5 and Shen comes in at 2.75, so mean there is uh you can work that in there somehow it's not it's not insurmountable well especially if matthews is on ltir right yeah oh yeah well that that opens up a big door playoffs yeah yeah i'm just kidding i'm just kidding i don't think they're gonna do that but uh but yeah look i mean the the salary cap gymnastics are obviously as cj points out it's easy to have these high-level 30,000 feet. In theory, this guy would fit great, but can it be done financially? Can you figure out a way to maneuver the contracts necessary to make it work?

That's the other question that has got to be answered, and that's the reason why 99.9% of the trades that get discussed don't actually get across the finish line. Coming up next, talking basketball with Leo Routens as the Raptors' skid hits 10. This is Overdrive on TSN 2 and TSN 1050. The weekend brings Hurry Up Tomorrow to Rose Bowl Stadium in Los Angeles on January 25th for one night only.

Get there with iHeartRadio. Two tickets to the show, flights, and hotel from tripcentral.ca plus $500 cash. For your chance to win, enter every day at iHeartRadio.ca. You guys are beautiful. An iHeartRadio experience. The weekend in L.A. Powered by TripCentral.ca.

The smarter way to book travel. Overdrive. Jim Taddy, Dave Feshtuck. Subbing for the regulars. Some of them working elsewhere some of them enjoying some time off and we'll just leave it at that overdrive is brought to you by fanduel bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score um so dave and we're going to bring leo in very shortly let me just detail this you go back to early december there's a win

against miami there's a win against uh the pacers Two in a row. That's December 2nd and 3rd. And then you have 10 straight losses. That's tough. And with everybody coming back, then it's all sort of discombobulated because everybody has to sort of find their own way. And so does the team. And it's been tough. Let's bring in Leo Routens now.

Leo, welcome. How are you? I'm great. How are you guys doing? Good. Trying to make sense of this. Leo Rotenstaud. Leo, welcome. How are you? I'm great. How are you guys doing? Good. Trying to make sense of this. You know, are the Raptors just a little weary from all the losses?

Or how do you read this? It's called the rebuild, and it's going to be ugly. You can look at it a lot of different ways. But, okay, first of all, the entire season, the team has not been whole. Right? So you've got a lot of guys that have never played the minutes they're playing right now. So that's obviously going to wear them down. It's going to be taxing. Not having key players like a Purtle, a Barnes, then putting them back into the lineup.

All of a sudden a Brown comes in. When you're doing all that, that, all the changing and the injuries in a lineup, out of a lineup, it wears you down physically and mentally as a team. It's not an excuse. It's just a reality. When you're not talented enough and deep enough to absorb it,

this is what you get. Quite frankly, I was more surprised that Darko was able to keep things going as well as he did for as long as he did, the way they were competing and staying in games. I'm more surprised about that than I am this. Well, Leo, yeah, for one thing, I don't think anybody's surprised

they're near the bottom of the standings, given the injuries and given the way the season began with Masai declaring it a rebuilding situation. But we haven't seen a call from Scotty Barnes like we saw the other night where he's saying the effort's not there. We haven't seen this team get drilled like they're getting drilled by historic proportions, this team get drilled like they're getting drilled by historic proportions, giving up 136 to Atlanta and 155, a franchise record, to Memphis, and 139 to the Knicks. What's the risk here that you're building a really ugly culture if it keeps going this way, Leo? It's always a risk and a rebuild, right?

You can talk all the culture you want, but if you're losing, that's a risk. And the reality is if you win, you're not going to accomplish what you're trying to accomplish in a rebuild. So, you know, it's a catch-22. You know, the best-case scenario is what we saw earlier when it's competitive, you're coming around the wire, yeah, you're going to lose some games because you're just not talented enough or you don't have everybody but you can see development you could see guys learning you could see guys getting better but you're not going to win so best case scenario you're still going to do well hopefully in the draft and you're developing guys

you know win all round but you know that's hard to do. It's really hard to do. And now from an evaluation standpoint, like I said, you've got a lot of guys that haven't played these kind of minutes. Some guys are new to the league. Some guys are, you know, getting a whole different look as far as, you know, like an R.J. now is a key player. Grady Dick has stepped into a whole different zone for him. Okay, how are guys going to respond? Can they sustain it?

Can they, you know, what are their downs going to be? How can they, are they going to be able to get out of their funk quicker or longer? That's all part of your evaluation, right? I mean, you're going to be looking at guys, a lot of these guys are supposed to be two-way players. Well, how come you're giving up 150 points, you're going to be looking at guys. A lot of these guys are supposed to be two-way players. Well, how come you're giving up 150 points? So, you know, this is all part of your evaluation going forward. It's not pretty, but unfortunately, anytime you mention the word rebuild,

you better be prepared. Yeah, and they made that clear in the summer that it was going to be a rebuild and maybe it slipped by the rest of us what that meant here are the clips that we're talking about it starts with coach darko right now as a team we hit the wall it's it's very simple we hit the wall we look uh tired uh we look drained guys are not in the rhythm and that's that's reality where we are right now and uh we gotta find a way how to get out of it and the only one way to get out of it it's always the same same answer it's back to work and uh staying together and uh watching the film and going through practice and addressing the right things and then getting better no we just got to come out with a better

effort every single night we just can't allowing us to ourselves to get down in that position. You know, beginning of the game, you know, we could have made better choices. You know, we had some turnovers, myself included. But every single game, we just can't allow ourselves to get down to this point and keep laying teams every single game um 130 points each every single night or more um for these last three games you know that's just unacceptable um we just gotta take it upon ourselves um to come out with a better effort well you can't argue with that and i'm gonna go back to leo 31 turnovers for 30 points in the game against atlanta now in the past and some of those close games they would have turnovers at the worst possible time to cost

them the game i mean that that's got to be cleaned up well i think turnovers have been an issue uh throughout the season a lot of careless turnovers and i think that's the big thing that gets dark though that you know a lot of these turnovers are just sense of turnovers. You know, you're giving the other team the ball on scoring situations, careless passes. You know, you're not thinking what you're doing. You're just, like, throwing the ball. You can't do that, right?

In this league, turnovers destroy you. Every time you come down to four, you've got to give yourself an opportunity to score. But if I could say something about what we heard from Scotty, you know, I think when you're, you know, the hardest thing to do in this league is be a franchise player. And, you know, you heard a lot of we when he was talking. And my personal opinion is when you're the franchise guy, you've got to say, I've got to be better. I can't let my team start this way. say, I've got to be better. I can't let my team start this way.

I've got to be more aggressive. I can't turn the ball over. When you're winning, it's we. We did a good job. We fought like hell to get this game. When things are going this way, if you're the franchise player, you've got to take it upon yourself to change it. And that's a big responsibility. And it's hard, especially when you're losing and you're losing and you're losing.

You've got to be part of the change. And when you talk about a culture and developing a culture, well, you're also developing a franchise player. And I think these are big, big times for Scotty Barnes in his development. If a team starts slow, that's partially on him. You know, he's got to get that time out, get in people's faces. He's got to be, you know, diving on the floor. He's got to be going after the ball.

That's a part of being a franchise guy. And so, you know, I think it's really important if you want to develop a team and go through this that everybody's accountable from the franchise guy down. And there's got to be, you know, you have to step up in those situations. Hey, Scotty Barnes as a franchise guy can't expect your Kobe Walter to be the leader. He can't expect, you know, Mobo to come in and be the leader and be the guy that's setting the example. He's got to set the example. And that's hard. It's

really hard. Leo, what do you make of the idea that Darko put forward today that you've got to give Scotty some slack here because he's playing without a point guard. The Raptors are intentionally putting him and R.J. Barrett

into situations where they're handling the ball an awful lot, maybe more than they ever would on a really good contending team, you know, in the name of developing them into point forwards or, you know, five position guys, whatever you want to call it. How do you see that? Well, again, that's been the talk of Scottie since he got to Toronto, that he can handle the ball, right? He's got to handle the ball more, handle the ball more.

So right now, this is a rebuild. So you want to find out, are you going to put the ball in his hands? Okay, is this what's going to happen? Are you going to let him be the ball handler? Are you going to let RJ handle the ball in larger sections of the game? And you're going to find out if they can do it or not. It's pretty simple.

You know, obviously otherwise you can start the other guys, you can start the traditional point guards and go with it, but the fact that they're not doing that, they want to find out. And so you can say, yeah you know give him some slack well yeah you're going to give him some slack because that's not his position but at the same

time you're trying to find out if he can handle that role um and and and again it's different when you're just spot you know i get a rebound i dribble the ball down court and make a play but if i'm consistently the guy that's got to bring that ball up and make plays, again, that's a difficult position to be in for a guy that's really never done it. And there's going to be mistakes. I think he had eight turnovers yesterday. And Scottie sees the poor extremely well, but when you're the point guard or you're the guy handling the ball, you've got a lot of decisions to make.

The most important decision can be who not to give the ball to, when not to make the pass, when to take that shot yourself, when to put the ball on the floor. It's not just handling the ball. Those are the decisions you've got to make. So if you're going to have a player go through that learning process and see for yourself if he's capable of eventually having a larger role in that area, this is what you've got to do.

And unfortunately, you're going to take some lumps. We just have a note here that R.J. Barrett missed practice. We don't know why, but won't travel with the team to Boston where they play tomorrow at three in the afternoon i mean that that's a tough chore to play boston anywhere let alone in boston and uh well there's another guy that that won't be playing that that's that's going to be a tough day yeah and and you know we see a lot of that right i believe he has an illness and um okay let's let's be frank.

And I'm not going to say this is what anybody's doing. But if you're going to talk about how do you do a rebuild, when a guy gets sick or a guy may be banged up a little bit, okay, you rest a little longer. You don't need to rush anybody back. Make sure you're good. Because the reality is, you know, when you're winning games, it's going to, okay, from the idea of the reality is you know when you're winning games it's gonna okay from the idea of the rebuild you want to draft right you want a great pick you'd like to

have the number one pick you'd like to have the best shot of having that number one pick so the more you win the more you jeopardize that and then remember when the raptors were playing a little bit better winning a few games the east is right? You had a lot of teams. It was hard to lose because other teams were losing more than you. When you've got a lot of bad teams in a league, in the bottom of the West, the bottom of the East, there's some bad teams.

You may have to make sure you lose. If you're going to do this, you're going to have to make sure you lose. If that means sitting guys out and resting them a little bit more or taking time on injuries, that's what you do. Yeah, just to be clear on that, so RJ has been battling an illness, and it's that. That's why he didn't make practice today.

So either way, he's not playing in Boston tomorrow. Dave? Leo, just wanted to wrap up here with a question about the birthday boy in the NBA today. It's LeBron James turning 40 today. And of course he's been asked about his future. And will he remain

a Laker for the duration of his career? He was quoted today as saying that's the plan. He didn't exactly say I want to be a Laker period. He's saying hopefully he won't have to go anywhere else. But what do you make of the Lakers chances of of making this guy, you know, happy to stay there until his career is over?

They're 18-13 in fifth place, just made a trade. Do you think they can squeeze something meaningful out of the waning days of LeBron's career? Well, you hope they can, but they haven't shown that yet, right? And, hey, first of all, what LeBron has done throughout his career is incredible, and his body is incredible. I think he said today that he really thinks he could play the game at a pretty high level for another five or six years or whatever, and I believe him.

It's not necessarily what he's going to do, but I think he could too. But players also have to realize when they don't have the top tier of their game and they have to be able to adjust to that, and that's where you need your personnel around you. And my big thing when I look at the Lakers, and I said this when I got this guy, Anthony Davis, everything was geared to get him out of that out of out of New Orleans and to to the Lakers and you know the amount you had to give up to get him and he's never shown that he can be

that guy you know you look at him some days you go oh my god this guy's unbelievable when he has one of these 10 game streaks of 30 and 15 and everybody's going wow look at this this is anthony davis okay but where is he the rest of the time and and i think lebron needs at that guy that you can count on every single night and he hasn't had that guy right he hasn't you know anthony davis is not that guy anthony davis is very talented um but you know he's just not there night in and night out. His durability is not great. His intensity lapses, and I think that's a big problem because that was a big investment, and it really challenged other moves they were able to make once they got him.

Leo, thanks very much. Happy New Year. Happy New Year to you guys, too. Thanks. Take care. That's Leo R Happy New Year to you guys, too. Thanks. Take care. That's Leo Routens, our NBA insider, and going over the Raptors, who are busy against Boston tomorrow afternoon. The Leafs are busy tomorrow afternoon. Earlier, the Raptors are in Boston. The Leafs are home.

The Islanders are striding for the road. It's going on in the world, too. The Solakians got by Germany 4-3 overtime. And earlier, Slovakia 5-4 overcast. We'll be right back. Who saw these guys? You've got to love it. You know, being a threat here. And in Week 17. Doing what they've done. It's incredible. 25-plus receiving yards. David Montgomery's out. He's going to definitely have a bigger role. Absolutely.

So we'll wrap that up. And also the best bet sets next as Overdrive continues on TSN 2 and TSN 1050. The weekend brings Hurry Up Tomorrow to Rose Bowl Stadium in Los Angeles on January 25th for one night only. Get there with iHeartRadio. Two tickets to the show, flights and hotel from TripCentral.ca, plus $500 cash. For your chance to win, enter every day at iHeartRadio.ca.

You guys are beautiful. An iHeartRadio experience the weekend in L.A. Powered by TripCentral.ca. The smarter way to book travel. We get this in the first half. I know, I see you're shaking your head there, Taddy. It's not going to happen. No.

But you never know. Narratives are out there, guy. Narratives are out there. What's a narrative word? True. Yeah, so Jameer Gibbs, 25-plus receiving. I think he gets that. He's averaging 52 receiving yards in his last three games.

We saw Devon Achain light up this Niners team last week. We're also going with Ricky Pearsall, 3-plus receptions. Niners way out of playoff contention. I don't see Deebo and Kittle being utilized as much in this game. And Pearsall just coming off a 37-yard week against the Dolphins. I think this is a play that could easily hit and I probably think this is going to happen relatively quick his line's only at one and a half on FanDuel I like this for three plus and Tim Patrick again my narrative that these guys

might not get as much run in a game like this I see you shaking your head there but Tim Patrick has hit this line in four of his last five games. If Amonra, Jamison Williams, and Sam Laporta do have decreased minutes, this could be a two-catch game for Tim Patrick. So, this parlay totals plus 585 on the FanDuel Sportsbook app. Today's best bets are powered by FanDuel.

FanDuel is the home of popular parlays this NFL season. Please play responsibly. 19-plus and physically located in Ontario. Guy, what do you think? Pretty good? Yeah, okay. But the Lions all year have gone forth and gone forward.

Ridiculous trick plays at meaningless points of games. So you're telling me they're going to take their foot off the gas tonight? I don't think so. I don't think they're going to take their foot off the gas. I know this is weird that it's only a three-and-a-half-point spread on FanDuel, but the Lions are significantly better than this team. Like, I'm a little stunned by this line, but I guess we'll see what they're cooking, right? Yeah, yeah.

No, I'm with the tab, man. They don't know how to take the foot off the gas. That is true. It's just not in their DNA. It's not in Dan Campbell's DNA. And I think they're going to just destroy the 49ers here just to make a statement as they roll into the playoffs. Yeah.

High on Jameer Gibbs, Tim Patrick on the Lions. We'll see where that goes. Who's in on the New Year's Eve edition of Overdrive tomorrow? It's Al's brother and the man in the middle, Dave Fesschuk. Fess, you're not leaving, are you, Dave? You're just going to. I'm just hanging out. I got to keep my video feed going now that it's working

I'm not shutting it off until tomorrow I was gonna shut mine off because I could put a picture up that was 25 years or younger there you go alright okay thanks very much to everybody and happy new year to everybody and I guess on the way out the Overdrive returns tomorrow at

4 p.m. We'll chat then.