OverDrive - OverDrive - November 28, 2025 - Hour 2 - Emily Kaplan/Jack Armstrong

Episode Date: November 28, 2025

Join Bryan Hayes and Dave Feschuk for Hour 2 on OverDrive! ESPN Hockey Reporter Emily Kaplan joins to discuss teams at the American Thanksgiving mark, Sidney Crosby's role in Pittsburgh and Alex Ovechkin's accolades. TSN Basketball Analyst Jack Armstrong joins to discuss the Raptors' win streak, Brandon Ingram making his mark and Darko Rajakovic overseeing the team, Dear Hayesy-B and Bryan gives his FanDuel Best Bets.

My name is Maria. Okay, I lied. It's Mary. But I just got back from a European-style holiday on MSC Cruises. And it made me want to be more European. Oh, the restaurante. I mean restaurants. Nightlife and shops in La Galleria.

Sorry, sorry. Even North American stuff like water slides and a sports bar and the views were bellissima. Okay, this is a problem. Book and save. Get drinks and Wi-Fi included. Visit MSCruises.ca, or contact your travel agent. Let's holiday.

Restriction supply ships registered in Panama and Malta. Hour two overdrive continues, powered by Fanduel, bringing you everything from the opening line of the final score. Jack Armstrong a little bit later, this hour, Raptors are in Charlotte tomorrow than playing the Knicks on Sunday. And we've won a lot of games, man. A lot of games. Everyone's happy. Everyone's healthy. Everyone's feeling good with the Raptors right now.

They're the new Blue Jays, man. They all love each other. There's, you know, magnetism. There's magic happening. that didn't expect to happen. I mean, you talk about low expectations coming to this season, Hayes. I don't think anybody was even thinking about this team

in this town. It felt like it was as low and interest level as I felt in an awfully long time. Like more than a decade, right? Like, I was at practices where there was no TV cameras. Like, I hadn't seen that since the 90s before Vince Carter got here. Right.

And there was just no profile of this team. And suddenly, the greater NBA conversation emanating from the states, talking about these guys. Yeah, you're right. And I think it was a combination of a couple things. One, their own doing, you know, the last couple years have been really ugly. Last year was really ugly. Like, it just wasn't a fun season. It was, yeah, they tanked, and there just wasn't anything entertaining. And then Maasai gets fired or let go. And I think a lot of people, like, he's, he's been the face of the organization for a decade. And then you coincide

out with the Blue Jays doing what they're doing. Like, the Leafs were overshadowed. Their Their camp was as overshadowed as anything I can recall in 15 years at CSN. You know, like they didn't have an interesting camp. They didn't really have a lot of interesting storylines. But neither did the Raptors. Like Ingram showed up. And, you know, you get a couple rookies coming in. We'll see if there's going to be some growth.

But I think the expectations were that they could compete probably for a play in spot. Like that, I think was the hope. Can you get to 40 wins, 41, 42 wins playing? And now they've just blown the doors completely open. in terms of what we talked about yesterday. Now, the East and the NBA looks completely wide open and very attainable. And I think the Raptors, based on the way they're playing, I think, and why not us? Yes.

Which, it happens quickly. And good for them. It's not even December. And that's how you get people back onto your radar. You win ball games. And look, the Raptors took a lot of hits in the offseason for the money they'd spent on this roster. Because it's one of the most expensive rosters in the NBA right now. Right.

Like, it's in the top 10, depending on how you calculate. it. And they're a luxury tax team right now as it sits. And Masayu Jiri took a lot of hits for that because they'd done nothing, obviously. They're a 30-win team last year. But Masayu Jiri, to your point about why not us? He was looking at the East. He's been looking at the East for the past handful of years saying, why not us? Why not take a shot?

You know, they cleared the decks for Janus a few years back. That didn't happen. Obviously, he's still in Milwaukee. So the Brandon Ingram thing was kind of like poor man's Kevin Durant. We bring this guy in. We got a bucket getter. We got Scottie Barnes. This is one of the best two-way players in the NBA.

We got quickly who we believe has upside as a combo point guard slash shooter. And we got RJ Barrett. And why not us? You know, if the Celtics are taking a year off, if the Indiana Pacers are taking a year off, the Knicks are unproven, the Cavaliers are unproven. You go down the list, the Detroit Pistons who currently lead the east are certainly unproven. They were one of the worst teams in the NBA not too long ago.

So suddenly, you know, Masayu Jerry's logic, logic, even though he's not in the building, making a lot of sense. Yeah, the vision was accurate. Yeah. Again, it's November. We'll see what happens in three or four months. But it does kind of open the door to new conversations. Like, what do you do with the trade deadline?

Like, if you're spending all this money, you know, do you get active? Who do you approach? Who's available? We talked about it yesterday. Probably want some more size. Certainly some depth in terms of size. Like, I think they have their starting five pretty much figured out. There may be some adjustments, but they've also allowed some of the young guys to kind of grow,

which is something they've always done really well in the Messiah's Uri era. Again, we keep referencing him. He's not here anymore. But his fingerprints are all over this team. Everything that's on the roster is his guy. Right. Like they're duped guys, like Walter who's getting a little bit more play. What is Grady Dick going to be, Jamal Shed's been really good for them? Incredible.

You know, and like those are guys, he had to give them a year or two. Get a little bit of growth, right? Let them come up here, get a little bit of run, which they did last. year, you know, and then you obviously pair them with veterans who are playing the best basketballs of their career, and all of a sudden you got a team that's one nine in a row and is

chasing down top of Sydney East. It's fun to watch. It's a lot of fun. They play defense. They play hard. They share the ball. It's like, this is a team you can really, you'll get behind it, and it has those, it has that Blue Jay kind of vibe to it, where it's like there's just something, not only are they winning, but they're likable.

They're a team that you can really kind of wrap your arms around. probably because you didn't expect much from them, too. And that's a big part of it. That's a nice thing. Because in this town, we have that tendency to build things up and, you know, expect a lot. And in this case, it was kind of like, well, this is a team that's so good. They just fired the president to build it.

Exactly. Now, it was deeper than that. I think most people know, kind of or have an understanding of maybe why that happened. But don't underestimate. But they've been bad for the last couple years. Don't underestimate the fact that they have had, you know, non-playoff teams. Yeah. You know, only one playoff team since the championship

and one playoff round since the championship. And that hurt Messiah Jiria a lot. Absolutely. Defending himself in those boardroom meetings. Last few years, it's been ugly. Like there's no disputing it. A lot of the trades that looked like you waited too long. Van Bleet left for nothing.

You got nothing for Lowry, blah, blah, blah. Like, there were a lot of hits he took. But now they're moving up. So Jack will join us a little bit later in the hour. Leaves are in action in Washington. A lot of games in the NHL right now. There's Colorado already winning their game. It's incredible.

But there's a lot going on in the league. U.S. Thanksgiving, always the bar. What are you made of by U.S. Thanksgiving? That's going to determine who you're going to be the rest of the way. Here's ESPN Hockey Reporter, joining us here on the Maple Tire to Hotline back on Overdrive. Here's Emily Kaplan. How you doing, Emily? I'm good.

I appreciate you guys having me just coming off our annual Thanksgiving tradition of a street hockey game in New Jersey. So proud to report, we do drink Moulson's afterwards. We're trying to do it proper. But always good to shout with you guys. I love that. it should be. That's the way it should be. And are you a believer in, like, how much stock do you put in that kind of defining moment, U.S. Thanksgiving? That defines who you are in the league and basically what you see,

what you get the rest of the way. How much wiggle room do you have in terms of your evaluation the rest of the way? You know, like personally, I feel like I'm an eye test person, a field test person. I'm never a numbers person, but the numbers definitely bear out. You know, if you're in playoff position at American Thanksgiving, we've seen it a million times. We don't have to repeat it. that nauseam. At the same time, I do feel like this season feels a bit different than years past, where it's just so many teams are in the mix, especially in the east, where you look at the bottom dwellers and there are only a couple points out of the playoffs. So I'm not sure this

year. I think this would be the year rather that we'd see the outliers. But typically, you know, the teams that look like disasters at this point, they're not going to figure out a way to solve it. Well, and that would be where the leaves currently stand, like the leaves have not It has not been good for them. And it hasn't been great for Austin Matthews. And we were talking about him in the last hour. And he's coming off the injury. He played the other night in Columbus.

Last year he had an injury-riddled season. Was the captain at the Four Nations. Didn't have the greatest tournament. It was okay. Actually, I thought he had a really good, it wasn't a gold medal game, whatever the hell they called that game, the championship game.

I thought he actually played really well. And had ample opportunities in overtime to win that game, and he couldn't beat Bennington. And we were discussing, you know, with the Olympics back and how significant and it is, especially in the U.S. because it's such a huge profile for the game and for the American players

in particular on NBC. We talked about T.J. O'Shee over 10 years ago, how big he was because he scored in the shootouts. But if you're trying to get a read on how big that's going to be for Matthews, for Austin, his profile, we presume he'll be the captain again. I don't know if you have any info on that.

But what kind of, how defining could this be for his legacy, particularly in his home country? What could happen at the Olympic Games this year? Absolutely. I mean, you look at T.J. O'Shee, and now all of a sudden he's a colleague and on the desk here at ESPN because he's such a household name.

And, of course, he had a great career. But all of my friends were just casual sports fans, no O'Shee because of what he did in that Sochi Olympics. As for often, look, I think the captain question will get there first. I think USA hockey, every time I talk to Bill Garrett about the makeup of the team, how he wants to make the team, the first thing he always says is, We really liked our Four Nations team. We were a really good team.

And because of that, I just don't get the sense that, A, they're going to make many roster changes, and B, they're going to make a leadership change. And even though there are a lot of guys that have loud voices in that, we know that Kachuk Brothers have basically become the face of it. I think they'll be heavily marketed in the U.S., and I think when they come out of the Olympics, especially if the U.S. does very well and get the gold medal, they're the ones that are going to get the biggest bump. I expect Austin Matthews to still have the seed because there's nothing that he did not to earn it, right?

or to have it taken away or somebody else to go over him. As for what this could do to him, I mean, I think he's been criminally undermarketed in the NHL in a lot of ways, and I think it's intentional, right? Like, he's so focused on the ice and so focused on being the right role model and the right person for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and that's a really tough market to navigate, and he said no to a lot, and he's been very choosy about what type of opportunity he gets, and let's be honest, there just haven't been that many opportunities here in the United States for hockey players, but he's so

marketable in the terms that he's from Arizona. He has a Mexican heritage. He's just a wonderful player to watch that if Team USA wins, and if he has a good tournament and he's wearing that sea, I think some of those opportunities are going to come to him that he cannot say no to. And we're going to see him in national ad campaigns. We're going to see him, you know, crossover on things that are transcendent beyond hockey. And it will be absolutely massive. And I know everyone listening to this is probably a hockey fan in Canada. And they're like, How much bigger can he get? But trust me, a lot of my casual sports fans here in the United States don't know often yet,

but after the Olympics, they probably will. Well, Leaf fans are certainly hoping for that, Emily, because he certainly has made himself relatively anonymous this season in Toronto, given, you know, given where he's come from and how big he's been at times. But the Leafs are getting a little break from this very difficult market, Emily. And on a road trip, there are two games into a five-gamer in Washington today. and I'm wondering how you're seeing the end game of the career of Alex Ovechkin, because we all thought, hey, he got the Gretzky record,

he's reached 900 goals, is he going to sort of, you know, sort of waltz into the sunset here and have kind of a, you know, a quiet end to his career. And yet you look down and he's got nine goals in his most recent 12 games. The capitals are into a playoff spot. He seems to be playing with a ton of energy and enjoying all these honors. he seems to be getting in pre-game ceremonies on a very regular basis. How have you viewed OV at 40?

Yeah, you know, I think, look, what we're seeing behind the scenes is kind of a tell that either he knows this is it or could be it, with all the jersey swaps that he's doing, like doing with Connor McDavid, and you see it with Kopitar, and I think every stop he goes, you know, he's a big memorabilia guy, and he's clearly gearing up as if this could be his last season. I've always assumed that the way this year goes will dictate what he does next. But I found it really interesting that when I sat down with him, I think it was, God, it was probably the end of October, maybe early November. We did a sit-down interview and I asked, when will we know when it's time to hang him up?

And he said, I just want to make sure that I'm there for my kids and I'm able to play soccer with them, play hockey with them. And because of that, I kind of had this thought in my head of like, he wanted to make sure that, like, his body still feels good. And because of that, it probably doesn't even matter how this year goes. Like, I think there's some thoughts that are already kind of going through his mind of how the end of his career is going to play out. Like, you obviously don't want to be out there and be a liability. And I feel like sometimes we were questioning that, especially when he was getting every single start in the offensive zone.

Like, dude, you trust this guy at all. And I was like, okay, fine. Like, you know, he's still producing. He's still producing. And then the other thing that I've always considered with Alex Ovechkin is he's so obsessed with other goats. Like, he loves following the careers of Lionel Messi. Aaron Judd and Kobe Bryant. And I know that the one goat that he loves the most out of all of them is Michael Jordan.

And I think about MJ, and MJ walked out when he was still on top, when he still had so much to give to the sport. And I can't help but think that might be something that's going through his mind as well. With Emily Kaplan of ESPN, and the Leafs are, you know, they're going back to back with goats or legends because they're in Washington today. They're in Pittsburgh tomorrow. And the pens have had a surprising start, you know. but I get the sense they're coming back to Earth.

And I think by the end of it, like we just talked about U.S. Thanksgiving, where you happen to be in the standings, I think they're going to fall further south. And I think Dubus is preparing for that. But with Sid, like I'm curious, you know, how you apply that same logic or that same, you know, line of thinking to sit and trying to project what his career looks like the rest of the way. Because I get the sense he's just going to keep playing. Like I think he's just, he doesn't have kids like Ovi does. I think he just, I wouldn't be shocked if he plays so he's 42, 40.

what is your prediction on how many more years could be left for Sid? Oh, yeah. I honestly don't even want to put a number on it because I think as long as he's playing at a high level and I feel like that's most of these guys, they feel like as long as I'm still contributing to the game and I'm still contributing to my team

and I'm not a liability, I want to be out there until they tell me that I can't be out there anymore. And I feel like Sid, to your point, because of how narrowly focused he is, that's got to be the group that he's in. I think that Pittsburgh has navigated this so beautifully because it's such a challenging situation. And I remember when Fenway came in

and I heard these rumors that they did this market research of like, what would it mean if we said goodbye to the franchise legends like Sid, like Gina, like Latang? And the results that came back were like, oh, no, no, no, that's not good for business. And that's why you saw Latang and Melk and get these extensions that they're playing on right now. And so I think that there's just this thought process in Pittsburgh that we got to do right by Sid, especially Sid, and, you know, they're going to let him dictate this. And, you know, we saw the noise really ramp up this offseason. Will he leave? How can he stand this? This is such a rebuild. One, I think Dan Mews is a way better coach than any of us gave him credit for. And two, we just

all underestimated the way that Sid can drive the bus. And even though that roster is not up to par with so many other NHL rosters, like they play their butts off because of their captain. So I think he'll dictate how long he wants to go, how long it's going to be in Pittsburgh. He and show no indication that he wants to play anywhere outside of Pittsburgh. I'm with you. I think that they're going to come down to Earth, but they'll be competitive enough where after the Olympic break, we can't say, okay, this is the year he gets traded.

There's just no way. Emily, you talk about how this has been a bit of an unusual season with the jammed up standings and so much parity in the league. There's been an unprecedented number of overtime games to date. Are you getting any sense that there's any appetite for changing the way the standings are run in terms of, you know, the loser point, which does cause so much congestion in the standings when there are so many overtime games, any appetite for a three-point regulation win in the standings or anything of

that nature that might separate things more than they are separated right now? Maybe if we get to a situation where, like, the end of the year, it feels like such an anomaly when we look at all the overtime points and we're like, okay, like we can't have this anymore, perhaps there will be some appetite to discuss it. I sense absolutely zero appetite for change, though, right now. Like, I really don't. Like, maybe people all have opinions, but I can see the way this goes. Like, the general managers are going to meet again in March in Florida,

and I'm sure it'll be like an agenda item someone brings up and what should we do, and then they'll table it, and then it'll go up to the Board of Governors, maybe, but it will never get to the point where it's going to get voted on. And I just can't imagine we're going to get a situation where we're getting any kind of format changes, both to the regular season or the playoff format. And I think that's just because Gary Betman and most league owners say, like, hey, the league's a really good place. We're really healthy. Why change things for the sake of changing things?

So a long answer here is, no, I don't sense any appetite. But we'll probably discuss it and table and table it and table it and nothing. I know. Well, they love the idea of all these band bases being able to believe that they're in it. Yeah. You know, I mean, I think that's what they're afraid of, and I can't necessarily blame them. Like, it's not, you know, that's where every league is going right. Everyone leagues, every league's chasing parity.

They don't want to be the NFL, the NBA is doing it, the NHL. They want everyone included. They don't want teams bottoming out. And it's kind of tough to argue that. Like even up here in Toronto is a good example of that. Like the least you have had a great run. They've been in playoffs nine straight years. They have had an awful start and they're out of the playoffs.

But you look at it, they pick up a couple extra points here or there. They're still in it. Yeah. You know, and you can kind of reason with that if you're Gary Bettman. For sure. And like a couple notes there. One, it's still such a gate revenue-driven league that we need the money, right? From those two fan bases that are like, okay, maybe, maybe like these games in February, March, like those games need to matter because we need fans in the seats for those point blank.

And it's just, yeah, there's, sorry, I got a little off of thought here. Maybe the Moulton just hit. You're a winner, Emily. You're allowed to. Thank you. Take it wherever it takes you. I'm telling you, the bruises from that street hockey game. It got a little tough out there. But no, like, I think that there's so many, you know, this is the other point I was going to make that, like, our company, right?

Like, we broadcast the playoffs. And I think the one thing is we're still so dependent on the big market teams. Like, when the Rangers, when the Bruins, when the Red Wings and the Blackhawks are not in it long, we see the ratings drop at the same time. This is the way the league wants it. They want teams in it every year. And we probably need to do a better job of elevating those smaller markets. So no.

Like, and I think that with a salary, cabarizing, there might be more of a divide but they have and have nots, and that's all the more reason why they wouldn't change the format at this point in time. Yep, absolutely. All right, we'll let you get back to the celebrations. Good recovery, man. That was actually very professional.

Very, very professional. Great catching up with you, as always, Emily. Thank you for doing this. Likewise, always. Hope you guys have a good one. Yeah, you too. Emily Kaplan of ESPN, joining us here on the Maple Toyota Hotline, get in and go where adventures take you.

in a new 2025 Tacoma from Maple Toyota near Canada's Wonderland and the Maple Auto Mall visit MapleToriotta.com All right, so we're tracking the Bears are up 16-9 on the Eagles and it's 1-0-0-0 Leaves one shot on goal. They've been caved in.

They got lucky by a quick whistle because it looked like the Capitals had scored 30 seconds into the game but it got waved off. Leaves are on fire down in D.C. Morgan Riley with the snipe. Morgan Riley with a snipe. Leaves are up.

nothing. All right. So we're tracking that. Jack's coming up. More on the Raptors and their big weekend still to come. Best Buds coming up. Deer Hazybee as well. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and up on TSN Plus. My name is Maria. Okay, I lied. It's Mary. But I just got back from a European

style holiday on MSC cruises. And it made me want to be more European. Oh, the restaurante. I mean restaurants. Nightlife and shops in La Galleria. Sorry, sorry. Even North American stuff like water slides and a sports bar and the views. We're Belisima. Okay, this is a problem.

Book and save. Get drinks and Wi-Fi included. Visit MSCcruises.ca, or contact your travel agent. Let's holiday. Restriction supply ships registered in Panama and Malta. Let go from your job without a severance package. You need EmploymentLoyer.ca. Your employer is legally required to give you as much as 24 months pay when you lose your job. Call Leor Sam Fieroo and get what you're owed. Employment lawyer.com.

Mail it in Friday, brought to you by Boston. Pizza's NFL game day menu. Stop by your local BP for $7 touchdown pines, dialed in shareables, and weekly prizing up for grabs. Football game days are better at BP. Melvin Friday is brought you by Boston Pizza's NFL game day menu. Stop by your local BP for $7 touchdown pines dialed in shareables and weekly prizing up for grabs. Football game days are better at BP. Days like today are better around TSN. There's a lot of like buzz in the building because the leaps are on TSN, the Jets are on TSN. Ottawa is on TSN, Montreal is on TSN, Bears Eagles are on TSN. Awesome.

So it's just one of those days. There's a million people working here. Everyone's tracking the games. You get some of these, like every once in a while you get a day like this where you realize, okay, we're live, we're on the air right now, but there's so much going on that you just can't avoid it. Yeah. You know, and the Bears being up 17-9, within the fourth quarter, there's no guarantees they're going to win this game. But I said prior to the games even being played yesterday, including the pack.

Lions game, that this is the biggest statement of the whole weekend if the Bears can win this game. Yeah. Because they're 8 and 3, but everyone was looking at them. Now you're the Bears. The schedule has been incredibly soft. Packers are coming for you. No way you're going to win this thing.

If they win this game and they're 9 and 3 and you win on national TV against the Super Bowl champs in Philly, that's a big statement. Without a doubt. It was people looking at the schedule saying you haven't beaten anybody and you're 8 and 3. there were like the analytics nerds were saying like this is the worst eight and three team in the history of the NFL like their underlying numbers are so bad that they should be you know they should be like three and eight right you know like it but there was no respect for the bears and you don't think that got into the locker room and they like that you

they're right the way they're playing right now says hang on here we're not that bad right although what will probably end up being the bigger story is the Eagles yes like if they get skunked here at home and Hertz is throwing pick which he's doing. Their offense can't get going. They get booed off the field. Yeah. It'll be very bears-like for them to make a statement,

but it actually turns into more of a statement about the other team. Right? Like they still will have a Rodney Dangerfield element to it. Like, no respect. Like, good for you, you want, but it's because the Eagles sucked. Not because you actually performed well. Right.

You know, like that's always what happens with bad teams. Or even just, and the bears have been awful for a long time, but just teams that have not proved. proven that they have championship pedigree. Right. Like even if they win, it's like, well, it wasn't really you. It was more of the other team. Very true.

And rightly so, frankly. Yeah. Bears have been an embarrassment for far too long. But the bottom line is, you know, they'll be nine and three in first place by a mile. Well, not to buy a mile because Green Bay is right with them. And Packers play them twice still. Yeah. Like those are the defining moments.

Those are the defining moments. Now, the funny thing is, you know, the Eagles will still be eight and four and still in first place. It's not really, you know, red alert in Philly, although if you listen to Philly Sports Radio, which I occasionally tune into for entertainment purposes. It's always great down there. It's always hilarious to listen to because it does feel like they're the worst team in the league. Their coach is the biggest idiot on the planet who's never going to win another game.

And there's something to love about that. Well, and that's where, like, you look at the leaves, and they're currently playing, they're up 1-0, and, you know, us watching it on TSN in here, they're getting caved in the shots are 9-1. but the one that got on net went in so that's all good the difference is the least are not

you know on pace for 110 points like the Eagles equivalent would be yet people here are freaking out and naturally so so we'll see what happens there but as for the Raptors we were talking about them and Jack's coming up here in a moment they're in Charlotte tomorrow Knicks on Sunday they've been great and the

Brandon Ingram story has gone as well as any first impression possibly could you know like when they acquired him. It was just a weird transition because they got him, he was hurt. You knew they weren't going to play him. He wasn't going to return, which he didn't. They knew, you knew they were tanking. No one was playing down the stretch. It was just a

really, then they get leaped in the lottery, which didn't help. I think if they won the lottery, it would have been a bigger story, but they fell down. Yes. So it just added to the kind of pain of the whole season. And then, you know, Colin Murray-Boyles, he was turned out to be a nice pick. You know, he had the kind of eye roll when he got picked by the raptor.

Right. And you're like, what does that mean? A terrible body language. Yeah. And there was a lot going against Everybody was running down the contract. You know, Brandon Ingram's own agent went on a major podcast and said I never could have got that deal from anywhere else. I can't believe they gave him that money. I can't believe we got $40 million for that guy who never plays it is always hurt. I mean, that was not good for Maasai.

No, that probably hurt. Probably did not send a thank you card to Rich Paul, the agent for Brandon Ingram on that podcast appearance. And then people were running them down for paying a manual quickly too much money, which was screwing up the restricted free agent market in the summertime, according to some sources. and because Quickly's deal is two rights. Well, he was hurt all last year. Yeah, and he's never proven it. No, he's never proven. I'm still not sold that they have that point guard position figured out.

He's not really a point card. That's the thing. He's not that fast processing computer-brained ball distributor that you'd love to have in that spot. But maybe that doesn't exist in large quantities anymore in this league. And if he's making threes, which he has been at times, and he certainly has the potential to do, maybe that's enough. Well, and you look at the way the rest of the team is. built. Like, it's not

1987 anymore where, you know, guys on the wing are not touching the ball. Right. Scottie's a point forward. Ingram can bring the ball up. RJ, if he's healthy to an extent, is a guy who can handle the ball for sure. And they've had times where they put quickly and shed on at the same time, and the numbers have been pretty positive.

You know, so, again, it gets back to what we talked about earlier. Like, we're already, you can put the, I don't think it's putting the car before the horse. Like, you win nine in a row, you're in the position they're in, You feel very good about them being competitive this year. I think it's a stretch to start talking deep, deep runs in November. But I do think you can start looking at maybe who could be available via trade deadline, which comes up pretty quick in the NBA, start wondering what they could do.

You know, and how comfortable are you moving out assets possibly to bring in pieces? And I don't know what's going to be available in the NBA right now. It's much too early to really know, but it's fun that they put themselves in that. that spot. It's tremendous. You're not talking about another year of growth or shutting guys down or do you have to move off guys.

Like they went through that for a couple of years and now they've come out of it and they look great. And they're winning games. It's a fun team to watch and Raptor fans deserve it because they've watched a lot of not so fun teams. Like, hey, remember two years ago, Messiah Jerry himself said

this team was hard to watch. Killing me watching this team. Yeah. And now, Missai's no longer here, but I'm sure he's enjoying watching them play. watching as he should um raptors in charlotte tomorrow nicks on sunday here is our ts n raptors analyst jack how you doing jack brian dave how you guys doing greetings from charlotte yes we love it well well we're

doing very well man not as good as the raptors evidently what's it been like being around this team man it seems like it's nothing but positive mojo right now uh yeah it's a good group uh very you know very good group in terms of chemistry, high character guys, awful one, one for all, very collegiate atmosphere, high energy. Really, they're just an enjoyable group to be around. So, you know, I've heard so many people already compare them to, you know, kind of this past years, Toronto Blue Jay Group. And, you know, there are a lot of those similarities.

So, yeah, this is a group that you could easily root for and enjoy watching. So, yeah, it's been a fun ride. When you look at Brandon Ingram, Jack, I mean, it was kind of a bizarre scenario that happened last year where the Raptors trade for the guy. They signed into an extension that his agent subsequently crows about, about how rich the deal was and how he couldn't have got that extension anywhere else other than Toronto. And he never plays for the Raptors last year. So we didn't really have a lot of a feel for what he could do.

all we looked at was a very injury riddled past in New Orleans and not great results in New Orleans because the Pelicans are the Pelicans. What's your level of surprise with the way this guy has hit the ground running and been the force he's been? Well, you know, if you saw him play at Duke, if you saw him play with the Lakers

and if you saw him play with the Pelicans, when he was healthy, I'm not the least bit surprised. I mean, this is who he is. The question is, is he on the court? And that's going to be the most important thing from this point forward. He's already played more games this year than he played last year. So the great thing is if they can keep him upright and on the floor,

you're seeing a guy that's an incredibly capable, gifted, skilled offensive player that you can run a lot of actions through and that you can have the ball in his hands late in the shot clock that his teammates have faith in him he has faith in what he's able to do and the league understands his talent level and he's long he's he's tall

he can shoot over the top of people there's not a lot of defenders in the league that can make him that uncomfortable that he can't get to his spots and get his shot off So to me, I think he's ideal for the development of all the other guys on this team. Everyone's able to move down a peg, and the pressure isn't there to have to move up a peg. So with him on the floor, suddenly you become a much more efficient team offensively. And look, he's never going to be an all defensive player, but he's trying like heck out there defensively.

And he goes and gets it on the defensive glass in terms of rebounding. So to me, I think he also looks like a rejuvenated, excited, all-in player. And when you get a guy that comes from a situation, Dave, to your point, like New Orleans, and he comes to Toronto and says, man, these guys do everything first class. You know what? The rest of you guys, you should realize how lucky you ought to be here. This is amazing. I've been around the league a long time.

This is a pretty good place to be. So I think that permeates throughout the roster too And guys really buy into what's going on With Jack Armstrong And yeah he seems to mix really well with Scotty Barnes And the way Barnes is kind of wired And like I'm curious where you see this going with Scotty And you take the other night

Into consideration Where Ingram gets a ball late He you know They didn't drop a play I heard you I was saying the same thing Call the time out I thought Darko was going to call the time out Let him play

You know he challenges Seacom he hits the shot and it seems like Ingram is the guy that's likely going to get that opportunity moving forward. But I'm curious where Barnes comes into play on scenarios like that. And do you see growth in his game where we're going to get to that point where it's like, all right, Scott, you're the man in the biggest situations? Or do you think it's going to be Ingram when it comes to scoring scenarios late in games? Well, two things. First of all, I said time out because the ball wasn't in Ingram's hands.

And they were discombobulated the last few possessions and needed order. a needed organization, which I felt they didn't have in a game like that. They'd give Indiana credit. They played their tails off in terms of how they were guarding and all that. But when the ball got in Ingram's hands, then you're like, no, you don't want a timeout. So when you look at Scott E. Bonds, he is a guy that, to me, I think, gets greater joy out of maybe having a game where he gets 20, 10 rebounds, seven assists, two blocks, two steals, three or four deflections. I think he gets greater joy in a game like that and winning than maybe getting 27 points

and maybe lesser in other areas. So I think he's perfectly suited to play with a guy like Ingram. And, you know, it's interesting. I'm not saying he is. He's not. You know, Scotty Barnes has got that size and the vision in the open court that a Magic Johnson had. And again, he's not at that caliber. Magic Johnson had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy.

Magic Johnson, with the exception of, what was it, you know, in the finals when Kareem was out in a game six at Philly, had to be the guy. But always was in a position where he had showtime and incredible talent around them and was better suited. in that. And to me, I think if you look at Scotty Bonds, I think when you put greater talent around him, he becomes that much better because now he can really dig into where he is capable of really impacting winning. And he's impacting winning as a score, mid-post, low post, occasional face-up three, which is improved. How about him going 14 to 14 from the free throw line? okay he's going to block shots he's going to alter shots he's going to get steals he's going to get deflections he's got great switchability in his game where he can guard all the spots on the

floor it's got great range as a defender in terms of his length and his lateral quickness he can go get it on both backboards as a rebounder and he's a guy that can direct your break he can get the ball up the court very quickly and get it to the right people to me, I think in tight quarters he's a magnificent passer and again, unselfish. So I think the fit for him right now is

ideal. Jack, the other big question mark this season I felt coming into it was Darko because we know Darko Roakovich has a great reputation as a developer of talent and that was one of the reasons he was brought into this situation. This was

a team that won a combined 55 games and it's in his first two seasons, and now he's faced with a team that's expected to win. It's not tanking anymore. So far, it's gone awfully well. I mean, now, I saw it with my own eyes, Jack. I know you were a great developer of talent in your coaching days at Niagara and also a great tactician.

I don't know about that. But now many guys can mix those two things. How do you think Darko's done so far? Well, you know, I think a difficult spot for him to be in when he took over. I personally, and I said it on the air. when it happened at the time, I did not agree with the departure of Nick Nurse. I think Nick Nurse is an incredibly talented coach. With that being said, a decision was made.

With that decision, now you bring a guy in who's never been an NBA head coach, and nor was Nick, but Nick proved himself. And now, unfortunately, for Darko, his first two years, I don't know what they were, restructuring, rebuilding, retooling, rebooting, tanking, I don't know, there's a million different ways. But bottom line, the first two years, I think it was incredibly difficult for him to show all the tools that he had in his toolkit as a coach. Now he's in his third year, and I've always been a big believer.

I don't care what level you're at. I think in your third year, you should know about a player, you should know about a coach, an executive, whatever. And I think in the third year now, with the handcuffs off, and everyone's pointing in the right direction saying, hey, we need to win, he's showing that the foundation and the groundwork he put in place is coming to fruition. So I'm really happy for him, because a lot of times it's like being an expansion coach. You do all the heavy lifting, and then when it's time to win, they whack you, and they bring somebody else in. they bring a bigger name in, and you never get a chance to show how talented you are. So to me, I think he's shown that now when they've had to win,

that he's shown that he can put a program together. And here's the thing. I think the telling thing, Dave, was on Monday night after the Raptors beat the Cavs. Unprompted, and let me repeat this, unprompted, and this is a guy that played for Mike Shoshchewski at Duke, Brandon Ingram raved about playing. for Darko. Again, this is a guy that is an elite talent in this league and knows what a good coach is, knows what a good team is, knows what winning is, knows what talent is. And unprompted just said, hey, this guy's incredible to play for and he's our leader. He's a big reason why

we're successful. He gets us going every day. So to me, as a former coach, rarely the players become effusive in their praise of a coach. Normally, they look in the mirror and say it's all about me. So for, you know, for a guy to not only praise how much he loves his teammates, but more importantly to bring it up without being

prompted on it, I think says a lot. So I think that says a lot about the job that Darko's done. And again, you know, the guy that hired you as the president is no longer here. Thank goodness they have a least stability where Bobby Webster took over and the, a lot of those same attributes and things that wanted to be put in place are still there. And so, you know, I think it helps around him. You know, God forbid if they didn't bring anyone back and now he's got a new executive and He's basically a lame duck coach with little chance of surviving.

And, you know, so to me, I think it's worked out really well with a stability in the front office. And there's been a lot of movement around them, an ownership change, a change above him as the president. And yet I think he's stuck to the task. And I think these guys really believe in him. And look, pro coaching today, they not only have to respect you, they got to like you. and I think the players both like him and respect him. And look, he can get after them and rip a strip off of them. I've seen it.

He will do it. And at the same time, he'll give him a pat on the butt and he'll give him a hug. And those guys will go, I love this guy. I'll play hard for him. And he's done a great job of developing personal relationships with guys so that in the heat of battle, when you get into a guy and challenge a guy a little bit. Guys don't retreat and get, have their feelings hurt.

They know it's coming from a good place. And look, that's modern coach hitting 2025. Always great seeing you. Always great catching up with you, Jack. Enjoy Charlotte. And we'll do it again soon. Hey, by the way, this is my first time ever doing a FaceTime interview on Overtrive. This is like, we are in the cutting edge.

This is like, this is big tough. This is big time. I feel like I'm on the cutting edge here in beautiful Charlotte, North Carolina. So my first time, what do they say? I'm a first time call it, long time listener. That's right. First time facetimer. First time facetimer, Jack, long time watcher, I guess.

It's the reality of modern TV and radio and the whole thing. Great seeing you, buddy. Thank you for doing this. Have a great weekend. Thanks, Jack. There is, Jack Armstrong. I love it, man. You'd never know it was his first time.

Coming right through the screen. I love it. That's intensity, man. That's a full-core press. I tell you, man, I used to go, when I was one of my, some of my fondest memories about falling in love with basketball or watching Jack Armstrong coach, man. He was a maniac.

He was a maniac on the sideline. Talk about sweating through suits and shirts. Yeah, there was no quarter-zips in those days. No. Full-suit, jacket. You were in a sense. And he was, you could, yeah, you'd have sweat stains in the first quarter. I love it.

That's the way it should be still. Get the suits back, man. I agree. I saw Calipar. He was coaching last night. He had, it was Duke and Duke and Shire had the quarter zip. Duke staff has the quarter zips on. And Calipar, the old school.

Yeah. With Arkansas got the jacket on. With the, with the shoes that you know they're going to slip and slide. Yeah, got to do it. The finest Italian tailoring. As it should be. Yeah. Professional.

All right, Best Buds coming up. Dear Hazy-B, coming up. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on the TSN app. My name is Maria. Okay, I lied. It's Mary. But I just got back from a European-style holiday on MSC cruises.

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It is a football game day right now at Boston Pizza. A lot going on. A lot of hockey, NBA, football, it's great. You mentioned golf this morning. I had someone right in and say, big golf guy, want to get in on the Black Friday deals. But buying golf clubs in November, how do you know you got the right one? And it's a great question because, like, I love hitting off mats, but I know it's not real. It's not.

Like, I am a plus two on mats. Like the compression, I crush golf balls. Never miss a shot. I never miss a shot. I move everything around. And then I get outside and I'm a 12. because the lie is not flat, feet are above the ball, your feet are below the ball, there's grass, there's actually wind,

it's actually water instead of just, you know, a place on the screen. Sometimes you actually play the ball where it lies and it actually is not in a great spot. So how do you handle this, Dave? Like, this is a big, big day for golfers. Yes, it is. This is a big one. Like, you get to TaylorMade's website or Golf Town or whatever. You're like, oh, this is an interesting little thing.

And buying clothes can be dangerous too. Oh, yeah. Because some guys are like, you know what? I'm going to lose weight the next four months. I'm buying a medium. I'm going to get a medium golf shirt. It's like you're an XL right now. It's not going to happen.

That's not going to work. It's not going to happen. I love the ambition, but it's just not practical, bro. No. Like, it's not going to work. You're going to be selling those on eBay. Buy your size. Yeah.

Like you... Dear Hazy-B, buy your size. That's a great advice. And I think, you know, to your point about can you buy clubs in the off season? I don't know, man. Like, it's... First of all, the worst thing about buying clubs... I've done this.

You buy clubs, you get clubs in December. You can't play for three months, four months, five months. They just stare at you. They sit there and stare at you. And I guess I did that pre before I was doing any simulator, you know, even. But simulator golf, to your point, is not real golf. So it's a lot of fun, but it's not the real good. It's a lot of fun. I enjoy it and I do it.

But, yeah, I think in some ways it's almost, it's almost better to wait and see. But the deals are hard to pass up. They're hard to pass up. And here's what I would say, similar to clothing, don't buy blades because you're going to be a, you think it'll be a plus two in April. I know those guys. Oh, yeah. Like, I should be playing cavity backs or literally improvement clubs, not buying blades because this whole winter I'm going and I'm just going to hammer golf balls and I'm going to be great. Dude, I used when I was younger, when I was younger, I was dumb like that.

And you know what? Then I got those game improvement clubs and like you, like you literally, you literally hit shots that have no business going anywhere and they go on the green. Yes. And it's like, this thing is like magic. Especially in bad lies and stuff. You're like, you know what? I'm not that good. I'm in deep rough.

I just need to get this up in the air. And it goes. Yes. Don't hit a blade because you can't. But a blade is not going. No, it's not going to work. These things are like rocket ships. Today's best bets powered by Fandole.

Make your picks and assemble the same game parlay and seconds on the Fandwell's Sportsbook app. I'm on the Toronto Parlay tomorrow. Raps. Cover the number in Charlotte and the Leafs. We're paying minus money right now in Pittsburgh, even though Pittsburgh's not playing and the Leafs are playing right now. best bets powered by Fandau same game parley is now available for every NFL

NHL game whatever you're playing on the Fandul Sportsbook app please play responsibly 19 plus physically located in Ontario all right Dave great stuff the last couple days thanks for doing it great seeing it Dave Fess Chuck of the Toronto Star thanks to everyone behind the scenes for helping out we appreciate it everyone for tuning in today TV radio podcast web up on YouTube live on TSN's YouTube channel we're out of here enjoy your evenings

enjoy your weekends we're back Monday at 4 p.m. then. Here Hazy-B is brought to you by Boston Pizza's NFL game day menu. Stop by your local BP for $7 touchdown pints, dialed in shareables, and weekly prizing up for grabs. Football game days are better at BP.