Scoot Henderson's Start | Trail Blazers Postseason Outlook | Impact of New Ownership

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Lockdown Blazers, your team every day in today's show, a very special one, a returning

guest to the program.

My friend and yours, Oregonian and Oregon live beat rider, a veteran in the game and

a great pull-up jump shooter, Joe Freeman, how you doing, Joe?

Mikey, I'm doing great, man.

How are you living?

What's going on?

Oh, you know, I'm living the dream.

The Blazers are about to play a stretch of easy games.

They have a very simple path to winning about four in a row.

And you know, as you've done this long enough, if they rip off four straight wins, anything

is possible.

They are about to become over the next six days champion, bonafide, championship contenders.

So I look forward to the optimism that will be swirling through Rip City.

Before we get into the optimism and the playoff chase and all that, let's start with the

return of Scoot Henderson.

I want to talk about Scoot today.

I want to talk about, we'll talk about playoff push, talk a little about Tom Dunton,

who's going to take over here in, I don't know, two weeks.

What have you made of Scoot's return?

Like what is, you know, I think it's been a little bit up and down, but what is your sort

of thoughts on the Scoot experience such that he's been now with these back in the

fold?

Yeah, I think up and down is a perfect way to sum it up.

You definitely can see the potential.

You definitely can see, you know, what he can bring and the impact he can have on the

game, both good and bad, quite frankly.

You know, when he's hitting shots, man, that court really opens up for him to do his

thing, to penetrate and create and, you know, we've seen a lot of that the last couple

of games when he's shot whatever, 50% from long ranger, I think better than that.

And you know, when that court does open up for him, his teammates open, he gets some good

looks and he's really hard to defend when he's one downhill, one on one against guys.

And we've seen that a lot of the last couple of games.

But of course, conversely, the previous five games were an albatross.

You know, he just, he couldn't hit anything as you're well know.

And I think so much of that is mental, man.

He just, he got into a rut and he just couldn't get out of his own head.

And I don't know, man, it's something about being a young guy, being around a losing

team for so many years, you know, having gone through what he's gone through the last

year.

And I, I think we do, I don't want to say give him a pass, but I think it's easy to

forget that my man has missed damn near the whole season.

And it is very difficult to jump into the fray of a team that's kind of established an

identity and established a way to play and just to expect him to just dominate and be

his best self.

And so, you know, partly, I guess some of that's to blame on us who cover it and on the fans

out there of expectations.

But conversely, you know, on the other side, you know, he's a number three pick in the draft.

And he's, this is a very important, what was supposed to be a very important season for

him.

And, you know, quite clearly and bluntly, he has not delivered on on what, you know, he

needed to do this year to submit his status because he just hasn't been around and now

that he's back, he just hasn't been consistent.

And so, you know, I, what do we have 16 games left?

It's an important thing games, but what does it mean?

What does it all mean?

Well, almost nothing because he's missed most of the season.

And so you can't accurately, you know, assess, at least not fairly assess who he is as a

player and what he can bring, talking to people before the season, man, they were very

optimistic about him in his summer and almost over the top, you know, boastful about what

the kind of season he was going to have.

And then it snapped a week before training camp with his hamstring and we just haven't

been able to, you know, see who he is, I guess.

Or maybe this is him.

I don't know.

That's the biggest problem.

We just don't know.

Yeah, I think, you know, I think the lows have been low enough that I think it's fine

to be that concerned.

I think you don't have to say like, oh, well, he's just getting started because the lows,

it's not like he's, oh, he's not playing great.

It's like the lows are pretty low.

Like I think that road trip last week was, was probably the low point of his, of his

baby of his career.

He's pretty bad.

His rookie season, but rookie season is different than year three.

Like he said, this is an important sort of growth period for him.

I think notably for me, one of the big things that I was going to track with him this

year is that last year in 66 games, he dunked the ball 14 times and I just thought that

was absurd.

It's just like, isn't this too athletic?

Isn't that kind of his thing?

He's going to be like, you know, not that he needs to be Russell Westbrook and like the

greatest, you know, one of the, you know, five greatest athletes to ever play the sport,

but I thought he was going to be forceful and he's just so, he built like he's going

to be like that.

He's already dunked five times in 14 games ahead of, he's ahead of pace, right?

He's not, he's not all over the rim, but he's certainly been better in that area getting

like he said, getting down hill.

The shooting, it was so, it was so bad for a stretch, you know, he had, he had back

to back over games and miss, I believe 16 consecutive threes at a five for 30 stretch over

five games like, pretty shot really well the last two games.

Maybe this is just the cycle of things.

You mentioned the confidence.

He won't say it.

He will not, he will not say it.

He will refuse us to admit that his confidence is shaken, but it's, it seems to me clear

watching him that confidence is a big part of his game.

You mentioned though, like, what does it mean?

Can we learn anything?

Let's say school plays.

What about what he's playing right now, 23 minutes a night, 25 minutes a night for the

final 16 games?

Well, the Blazers get enough info to be clear about what is next for this team heading

into a year with Jamie lowered coming back, draw the under contract, Denny obvious being

point guardie, Shane Sharp needing guard minutes, like, well, they learn, can the, is it possible

for them to learn enough in the final 16 games?

I don't think so.

It's going to be a team trying to make this playoff push, obviously.

So I mean, unless he just goes ham and just becomes out of nowhere consistent and, you

know, shoots on a regular basis, creates on a regular basis, plays defense, unless he

just morphs into the player that everyone thought he would be.

I don't think so.

And then even then, are you guilty of, you know, hyping up for too short of a sample size?

So I don't want to call it a lost season for him, but it's on the verge or very close

to being a lost season.

I mean, I will say, you know, behind the scenes, he's very well liked.

He's has an infect personality.

He's, he's a really a really nice kid.

He's the kind of kid, honestly, that you want to root for, that you want to see succeed.

He works hard.

He has a strong work ethic, you know, he's about the right thing.

So from all of those things, you really, you want to see him do well.

You know, it's, it's, it's, it's just the jury's out.

And I'll tell you what, man, in, you'd say it was the, the worst stretch of his career

arguably, what I guess magnified it is in the final game of that stretch when he struggled,

you know, he went head to head or at least the Blazers did with, with Amin Thompson and

Amin Thompson delivered Houston an, an emphatic win in an emphatic way.

And you look at that three, four and that draft and what the Blazers could have had and

what they chose, you know, instead, and that just, man, I can only imagine Blazer stands

looking in that and imagining the what ifs.

Yeah.

Like, school was such a consensus pick that I think people kind of say, oh, it's okay,

but the job was not to follow the consensus.

The job was to get to pick right.

And, and both Thompson twins look good.

I think a man is generally thought of as a better player than a Sarb.

I don't know.

I think they're pretty similar.

I guess Sarb's in glove.

I think Anthony Black, right after them, who I write after them is good, he's certainly

been better than Scoot this year.

So it is, it's undeniable that it feels like there is some part of it that it's like,

oh, in year three, these other franchises, they're getting some returns and, and the

Blazers still feel like, like you just said, uncertain.

And like, even if they feel certain, the max number of games is going to play as like

30.

And like, what do you feel if you saw 30 games of a guy at 20, you know, 21 22, I guess 22?

So yeah, I think they'll have questions to answer about what, what, what do they do with

the point guard spot over the last, when we get to the fall, but I think there's a lot

of other bigger questions that will kind of get answered and before that.

So I think that's something that will be a big talking point, a big thing to consider

when we get to June and July.

But I think we got to get through this ownership transition and figure out who the coach is,

if it's going to be Tiago or whatever, whatever, like there's just so many other things that

are up in the air before it's like what the sort of Scoot Damien Lillard drew holiday cluster.

That is coming.

It seems like it's going to be real.

You got to throw Denny in that.

I mean, this, he's their point guard right now.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And, you know, I think that I kind of asked Tiago about this the other day, you know,

how does he balance whether Denny and Drew handles the team?

And he sort of said they're interchangeable, but as best as I can tell, it's just Denny

right now handling the team for the most part.

He says he likes to keep one of or two of those trio, Denny, Drew, and Scoot on the court

as much as possible.

And so from that standpoint, when they are on the court, they're interchangeable.

But point guard wise, you know, is it just Denny?

Is Denny?

Right.

Yeah.

And Sago prefers to put Denny and Drew on the court as much as possible.

And that's good.

And Scoot is also allowed to participate a little bit as needed, but the man has preferences.

Let's talk about the playoff push, because playoffs, let me use a different word post season

push.

They're going to attempt to play a game after or multiple games after the regular season.

I want to talk about sort of the what they've got ahead of them, because you wrote about

that earlier this week.

We will do that in the second segment, join us there.

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All right.

Here is the rest of my conversation with Joe Freeman.

All right, Joe, you wrote about this earlier this week.

Danny obviously is not looking at the standing.

He says, I don't do that.

I'm not worried about this.

I don't do that.

Danny projects a lot of great deal of confidence.

What is your confidence level in the blazers?

I think they can't fall below 10th, but what is your confidence level in them climbing

in the standings or getting out of this 10 spot?

Well, they haven't given me a lot of reasons to be confident.

You know, they haven't won consecutive games since what is it February 9th or something

like 23rd.

I can't remember the stats.

They haven't.

Boy, I should have looked this up before we talked.

I wrote out.

I got it.

20th consecutive games since February 9th.

They beat Memphis on the 7th, and then they beat Philly on the 9th.

And that was the last one.

That was a three game winning streak, Memphis, Memphis, Philly, and they have not won consecutive

games since then.

So we're talking about a month with the All Star break in there.

Yeah.

And then they're four and six since the All Star break.

And what is most, I don't want to say alarming, but concerning is that, you know, you come

back from the All Star break, and that was sort of the thing that I was asking everybody

was, look, you guys have the easiest schedule from the All Star break to the end of the season.

You have a slew of winnable games against a team team who are obviously tanking and and

or suffered a lot of injuries.

You have this opportunity in front of you, you know, are you going to take it?

And they were, you know, overwhelmingly obviously encouraged and optimistic about that chance.

And they're four and six since, kind of asking them about their ceiling.

I think, Tomani Kamara sort of said, you know, there is no limit.

Well, I think it's clear that there is a limit based upon what we've seen so far.

Now, I guess one, if they were being, you know, impartial or at least fair would say,

well, they've played most of these games without Danny Obdia.

They're most important and best player.

So, you know, that definitely skews things.

But in his absence, man, Drew Holiday was balling.

Jeremy Gray was balling, uh, scoot, obviously struggled, but DC played well.

So they had a lot of guys playing well.

They just floundered against, you know, good competition.

And I guess when you look down the stretch, on the one hand, Golden State, what are they

right now?

Curry's not playing.

He's hurt.

They're losing games to Utah.

So that's a team that you can certainly overtake.

But conversely, the clippers are playing very well and seemingly as well as they've played

all season.

So, you know, I guess there's, you've got your good and your bad, you're favorable and

you're unfavorable.

The good, Danny's back.

He's playing well.

Too many, he stays healthy.

That's a difference maker for you down the stretch.

Health.

Everybody but Shaden Sharp is back.

So the roster is as healthy as it's been all year.

Through and Jeremy, trending up, two veterans who have been through it, Jeremy's been in

the playoffs, drew obviously a multiple NBA champion.

The schedule, 16 games, eight, you know, eight at home, eight on the road, easiest in the

NBA against teams with something like a 420 winning percentage and then, you know, Golden

State and Curry and all that.

The bad, this team's been horribly inconsistent all season, went over some of the numbers of

late.

The consistency really is inconsistency with them.

Clippers are playing what we just talked about that.

Shooting.

They still can't shoot.

They add a one of the best air quote, best shooters in the NBA and V, he can't shoot.

Now that he's joined the team, they're still sloppy and careless with the ball.

They make a lot of head scratching turnovers.

Going back to Scoot, he had a couple backbreakers, two back to back turnovers against the Hornets

that kind of went under the radar in the second half that were incredibly costly.

Beyond Drew and Jeremy, no one on this team has done this before.

Denny's never been in the playoffs.

Two Monies trying to get the playoffs for the first time.

It's a young, ascending team.

That's what people want us.

It's time for them to take their lumps.

They need to go through this, not just to find out what they are, but so they can go through

it to be ready to take the next step.

And so, you know, and then, you know, we've gone over Scoot and what we're waiting to see

from him.

You kind of have those buckets of good and bad, and which is going to tip it in the

scale, or which way in the scale for them.

Obviously, they're not going to fall out of the play-in.

But if they have to open on the road to win two games, it just doesn't seem very,

very likely for them to get there.

Yeah, that path is really hard.

If it's two games on the road, that path is really hard.

The Clippers won last night.

Co-I Leonard had like 48 is incredible.

And they are now over 500 after starting the season six and 21.

It's like, and then trading away probably two of their three best players.

It's, they're really on the rise.

Go on states a mess.

Like they're catchable.

They've lost three in a row, but one of them was at Utah, which is this team that has

no interest in winning.

And then to the bulls in which the Warriors had a multiple, multiple possession lead in

the final 30 seconds of the game and figured out how to, you know, foul jump shooters

enough to lose the game.

Really, they're bungling it.

Like it's there for them.

And then you look at the schedule, like you mentioned, that you were right off the top

of your head.

That's not bad, Joe.

421 win percentage to close out the year.

But their next four home against the jazz, winnable, right?

The jazz were up big in their game last night and benched Kianta George in the fourth

quarter.

They are, they are ready to lose.

Even if they build a big lead against the New York Knicks at home, they will lose.

They're committed to the, they are, they're down, they are down to do it at field, then

the kick off a long road trip, but at Philly, incredibly beat up an absolute mess.

Uh, they've already defeated.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Exactly.

They already beat them.

And now even they don't even Kelli Ubrei has, and Tyrese Maxxie have since got hurt

since they already beat them at home.

Philly's in a bad place.

Brooklyn basketball team, I'm not interested in winning at Indiana.

We just saw here that a bad basketball team.

So like, four straight, I feel like I don't, I don't like to put too much weight on any

individual games, but if you got to probably go for a no during this stretch, that would

get them back to 500, 35 and 35, you know, you'd feel good about your stretch in the final

12.

There's some tough ones in there, but they still get Brooklyn again at home, Milwaukee

at home, Dallas at home, Washington at home, like New Orleans at home, Sacramento at home

at the end of the year.

Um, I think for me, the chance to really climb out of like, they could get to nine, but

their chances to climb out of ninth is probably beating LA twice.

They play the Clippers, um, in LA at the end of March, and then the penultimate game of

the season, April 10th, and I think those are the two to circle.

But in order for those to matter, you have to take care of business, um, you know, they

haven't had any, like they've had some bad losses, just like the result, but they have

pretty much every game against the bad teams are supposed to win.

They've won.

If you just look at it as like the binary win lost thing, I do recognize they'd lost by 54

if I know gets right out of the break.

So, um, you know, but I wonder like if we haven't seen them sort of build that momentum,

but like they're, they're going to go for it.

Um, if you had to circle, is, is Danny's health the most important thing?

Like what is like, if they had to pinpoint a single fact that he said, like if they do

this, they win type of thing.

What is it?

I think Danny's health is, is fair to say.

I mean, they're obviously a lot better with him.

He brings so much that we've talked about before and I'm sure you've talked about a million

times.

Um, and, and just finding some kind of consistency, you know, the rotation is, is ever evolving

because of all the injuries.

I sort of asked Thiago about this the other day.

Does he want to settle into a rotation now that he's got everybody back?

It seems like he does a 10 man rotation with, uh, without Blake Wesley and Citi Cicelco

for the most part.

This, this staff really loves him some Chris Murray, we've learned, they really do.

Um, so he's in and then Matisse is, is kind, I mean, he's in, but borderline in and I

don't know if he plays like, he plays like 10 or 12 minutes.

Yeah.

I don't know if that's a minute restriction thing because of his, his up and down health.

But, um, so, you know, you want to see some consistency there, but, um, yeah, I would

say Denny's, Denny's the most important in those, those two Clippers games.

I'm pretty sure they've lost the both games of the Clippers so far.

I know I watched them lose at LA early in the year when LA was scuffling.

So that has proven not to be a great matchup for them, but they have played a well against

Golden State, you know, looking ahead to any play and matchup.

Um, yeah, it's just, it's such a befuddling situation.

And I guess it's sort of fitting for this team and where they are, um, you get to this

point and you start nitpicking every little detail because of where they're at.

But if we were to rewind to October and what the expectations were for this team, I think

we're right.

They're right where we thought they would be in the playoffs.

Yes.

They played the playoff picture, um, in what is a pretty, uh, talented Western conference,

not quite as good as we thought it would be in October, but they've taken strides.

They've showed promise.

They had a breakout star in Denny so far.

That's was a state, you know, I think an important faction that scooped questions to

lingers that we've talked about.

So we don't have anything there.

We've seen how Drew Holiday can fit and, and we could go on down the list, but in a lot

of ways there, who we, who we thought they were almost perfectly, um, I will say it's

kind of a win-win situation no matter what happens here because if they somehow sneak

into the playoffs, uh, they'll get that baptism under fire that, that I was talking about

a little while ago.

And if they don't, they get to keep a lottery pick in what is widely considered a very

deep and good draft and, and so one would think that that would be their last pick before

they have to convey it to Chicago the year after or the year after that.

So, um, kind of a win-win, either way, I guess, from those perspectives if you want to

look on the bright side.

Yeah, I've described it as a full on nihilism, nothing matters.

If they lose, it's fine.

And if they win, that's also good, too.

It's like, we've reached the point in the blazer season where because the NBA's, uh,

draft incentives have encouraged a bunch of teams to be bad, uh, the blazers can just

lose.

They can just lose and they're not going to fall out of the play-in.

And I think, um, yeah, I think there's some, I think there could be some value in making

the playoffs and getting rid of that pick to the bulls and having more ammo to trade this

summer if you want to like make a bigger splash trade or just have that freedom sort of that

deck cleared.

Um, but if you don't and it doesn't see it's not an easy path, it's not, it's, it'll, it'll

be okay for them.

Um, and I will say this, too, and it's because I'm a professional, I'm going to tee you

up with a wonderful segue.

Uh, what is all this matter in the grand scheme of things when you are going to have a new

owner takeover here in, in days or weeks?

And we have no idea what Mr. Dundin's going to do with the front office, with the coaching

staff, with the whole operation.

How does he view the roster?

You know, who does he like?

I know he likes Denny because I wrote extensively about him a while ago and, and talked to someone

who said he was a big Denny fan, but, um, with that hanging overhead back to the, what

does it all mean?

What does it all mean at this point when everything could look completely different in just

a few, uh, you know, weeks to months?

Well, Joe, since you mentioned that, you should take, you should take a quick break and

then make some conjectures about what it might mean when Tom Dundin takes over here,

uh, reportedly at the end of the month.

We will do that in the third segment, join us there won't you up before we do that.

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with Joe.

Freeman.

All right, Joe.

Tom Dunton is set to take over the trailblazers.

I believe and you probably have clarity on this more.

So then I do is that it we're still on track for a closure at the end of March.

Tom Dunton takes over heading into April.

Is this that what you as you understand it?

That is as I understand it.

There's a board of governors meeting later this month that I'm not allowed to share what

that date is, but it is later this month.

And I can only assume that's when they would vote on such matters.

So you know, from that standpoint, I believe everything is on is on track.

It would be a surprise if something different occurred.

For my listeners, last year's board of governors meeting was March 27th, 2025.

So look for it.

In that final week of March, that's about it based on the timing of when it was last

year.

And so what do you expect Tom Dunton to do?

You know, I did a whole show yesterday that I'm sure you let's do because you're at

it.

So I can all show yesterday on Dunton and what kind of I think we know about him.

And a lot of it was using the reporting you did from your profile of him, but based

on what you've heard and what folks you've talked to, what do you what do you kind of expect

from the early Dunton takeover, should we expect sweeping changes?

I mean, I expect him to come in with unfathomable, unfathomable amount of energy looking to set

the foundation for a winning franchise.

I think what we've learned about Dunton or what I've learned about him more than anything

is a person who is over competitive, who places a premium on winning.

And so he will set in motion whatever he feels he needs to do to make that happen.

Based on his tenure with the Carolina Hurricanes in which he overhauled the front office

and the coaching staff within the first year and the track record of most ownership groups

in the history of professional sports, I think we are going to see a lot of changes.

Now I would be lying if I said that I knew what those changes were going to be.

Mr. Dunton has refused to talk to me several times, but I think it's safe to say there's

going to be quite a few changes within the organization from top to bottom.

There was a story that you wrote right when the sale was first reported.

This was back last year, maybe last spring, and there was a quote and we're done to respond

to a text message from the Oregonian that said, happy to talk.

Once the sale is done, and I'm like, all right, hold it, they're going to have a look at that.

I've got to hold you to it, Tom.

How about April 1st?

I'll be available to take your calls.

I'll clear my calendar so you can call back to Oregonian on April 1st once you're an

owner of the team.

Based on your reporting and looking into what they do with the case, I do expect changes.

I don't pretend to know.

I think there are good parts and bad parts about an owner changing things.

I think you want an owner who has hires the right people and does these things and has

a vision and can execute that vision and has a firm belief that they stand behind and

is willing to put money into make the best, that's positive, but there also is that fear

of the new owner syndrome is that you're making changes because you want to put your stamp

on it and it's more important to have it be yours than have it be right type of thing.

I think that's the unknown here.

I do expect changes of some variety.

I will say that I guess notably, although I don't think it's an apples to apples comparison,

the moves that Dundin made in Carolina with the Keynes were promoting an assistant coach

to head coach, promoting someone who was with the organization to GM, like the sort of

boy wonder GM, Eric Tolsky, who he was already with the team when Dundin promoted him and

then eventually a five years later made him the GM of the team.

It's not like he's going to get guys outside of the organization exclusively, but it is

his people and I think that's, I think that is, I think that is something to monitor.

I guess for you, are there concerns of based on what you've heard about him being just

sort of like maybe I don't know if meddling is the right word, but like wanting to be so hands

on with every aspect is that he will be part of every decision type of thing.

I don't have concerns, but is that is that what you expect from him?

Well, what I heard repeatedly, including from a good friend of his Fred Purple, who was

the president of the USGA, the United States Golf Association and a CEO of a corporation

in Dallas, is that, and I, he must have said this seven times, but Dundin will do a lot

of listening when he arrives.

So I don't expect him to come in with a scalpel and just hatchet things up on day one.

I expect him to go through and sort of scrutinize, you know, every facet of the organization

and make decisions from there.

I will say this too, I think, and this is just my personal opinion, that his familiarity

is a lot more on point with the NBA than it was with the NHL when he first arrived.

He has, isn't always has been a very big basketball fan.

And you know, he swims in the same waters as Mark Cuban, who is a friend of his.

And I could only assume that over the last few months, Mr. Dundin has had conversations

with Mr. Cuban about the league, about candidates at positions, front office and coaching

staffs for, you know, potential future hires.

So I just think his knowledge and, you know, expertise in this league is a lot better

and he has a better handle on it than he did with the NHL.

It's also a much more advanced, professional first class league than the NHL.

And it will be a different ball game than he's used to.

One thing that Dundin did with, and I don't know if he still does, I believe he still does

at some level.

But, you know, he kind of, when he made changes, he didn't go, as you kind of, you know,

alluded to, he didn't go get a splashy higher of some high priced front office guy or high

priced coach, he kind of went on the cheap at some level.

And, you know, you talked about him promoting from within from his current general manager.

He was a very low level analytics guy that Dundin identified as being someone that he

needed to not only keep a promote from within the organization, and then, you know, with

Rod Brindamore, sliding him over and having him coach, a legendary former hockey player.

And so it's definitely not apples to apples and he definitely goes with his gut a lot.

But I think he will go with a lot more of his brain power on this one just because he

has a more intimate knowledge of the league.

Now, if you do want to make a big splash, either front office or coach, it's not going

to be cheap.

The NBA NHL, you know, it's just, you're not going to come in and go on the cheap if

that's something you want to do.

Now, if you identify someone that is less expensive, that you think is, I'm going to say,

you know, replaceable or flungable assets or whatever, but, you know, if you find someone

that you think is smart, that has a flooding talent, you can go that route.

But, you know, this is all speculation, of course, and we, for all we know, he's going

to keep some of the people in place.

Like you said, there is something to be said about continuity, especially after a multi-year

rebuild.

I guess for another pod would be judging that rebuild about whether or not the people

in place are worthy of keeping in place.

And so that will ultimately be something for him to decide, though.

Yeah, sure.

We can knock that one out in the final minute and a half here.

I would say just for context, Rod Brindamore was extended following the 2021, 2021 season.

Yes, they had coached the Carolina Hurricanes, Hurricanes legend was on the coaching staff

for seven years, promoted, has been very successful.

They've made seven straight playoff appearances.

They've made three, three e-commerce finals in 2021 when he signed a new deal.

He went in as a lame.coach and he signed a three year, $1.8 million extension to continue

to coach the, to coach the Hurricanes coaching.

Thanks in part to labor pioneer, Monty Williams, high level coaches make more than $10 million

a year in the NBA.

It is, it's a whole new ball game.

And so we'll see the sort of appetite for that.

I think that is super curious.

I will say, I also doing research on about Tom Dundin.

He gave an interview to the news and observer in 2018 when he took over the Carolina Hurricanes

that said he was picking Mark Cuban's brain about how to run a professional franchise

back in 2017 as he was trying to buy the Canes.

So we're talking about 10 years of communicating with an NBA owner about how it works.

I bet he has a good idea.

I bet he's done, I bet they've done a bunch of homework.

I bet if they wanted to make changes, I bet they've got a list right now of who it might

be, who it could be, right?

Like I'm certain that they're not going to come in and say, okay, day one.

Now who coaches in the NBA, right?

Like Tom Timberlow, he still will.

You know, so I'm sure they're like, this is a billion dollar corporation.

They're on it.

They've been on it.

There's a story of Lamont Week where Joe Kronas, the only time he's been on the record

since his coach was arrested in September.

There's not spoken to the media publicly since, but he did give one public interview to

the Lamont Week and he said that he hadn't, he talked to Tom Dundin one time since when

he first agreed to buy the team.

I'm just going to go on the record myself and say, yeah, right, yeah, right.

I don't know how much they could communicate, but I am sure, even if it's through back

channels that they are communicating regularly.

I am sure Tom Dundin is, is already has been in, was at least a breast of the moves available

to them at the, at the trade deadline.

I'm, I'm certain of it's, um, these moments, I like to mime things where you screw the

lock over your mouth and throw away the key.

So I've just done this for the video audience.

For the video audience.

Yeah.

I'm going to say, I was going to put Joe on the spot there, but I am, listen, I have access

to a smartphone.

I bet many others across this great nation also have access to various communication devices.

Um, uh, dear listeners, wait, Joe, uh, we're going to find your stuff here on OregonLive.com

slash Blazers.

Um, uh, any other places you want to point folks?

I think that's good.

Yeah, that's a good place to go.

Um, subscribe to your local newspaper, uh, keep print alive.

Or if it ain't print, keep at least local, keep a local media life to some extent.

Dear listeners, come back for more shows.

Uh, Blazers play the jazz tonight, uh, then they head out on a road trip.

Next time you hear my voice, we will talk about a couple games and we will do five more

shows next week because that's what we do, uh, wherever you get podcasts also on YouTube.

Go join the locks on every day or club.

Tell your friends about the show and then come back for more.

I appreciate you listening.

I will talk to you soon.

I will talk to you soon.