The Rapcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Samson Folk answers listener questions about a wide variety of things. Timestamps for you lot. 0:00 - Intros 0:30 - How does Scottie become All-NBA? 3:00 - Prioritizing prospects over Agbaji? 5:00 - Are catch-all stats good? What do possession numbers mean? 9:10 - Putting Wembanyama on the Raptors 10:00 - Quickley's pull-up + Drives 12:27 - Who starts at Shooting Guard? 14:05 - Infinite loops/regress and turtles 15:12 - Scottie as a stocks monster 16:40 - How does Scottie became a Superstar? 18:40 - IQ statline prediction + will his playmaking improve? 20:45 - How do the Raptors make the playoffs? 21:58 - Enjoying the WNBA + unique aspects of the league 25:30 - What type of defense do I want to see from the Raptors? 29:16 - Great Writers & DeMar's LeBron comments 32:50 - Will Gradey average over 15.5 ppg? 34:39 - More work with Caitlin Cooper? 35:30 - Ja'Kobe Walter is the most important rookie 38:00 - Is Kelly Olynyk cooked? 40:30 - Pascal & Fred's championship run 43:55 - Climbing progress 44:43 - Most excited to talk about this season? 45:50 - Great Shooter outside of the clutch, or in it? 46:55 - SGA is better than Luka 49:19 - Saving King Joffrey or Abby TLOU 52:00 - What players fit well on the Raptors? 55:20 - Top 10 Raptors of all time? 56:40 - Scottie + Luka / Scottie + Maxey 57:50 - Offszn Q's Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode we have comedian Arthur Simeon on and we talk who is the best current NBA Jam duo plus we just say the names of some old Raptors and have a bit of a laugh. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Host Cathryn Naiker is joined by Vivek Jacob to discuss Olympic Basketball. Team Canada men's quarterfinal and semi-final odds. Then they discuss the 3x3 basketball tournament, how boring it is, and what can the Olympics do to fix it. The USA basketball team and their DNPs. Is this just an embarrassment of riches or is Steve Kerr up to something? Then in our Raptors Homer moment, we look at the new 30 anniversary logo, and what other plans the team might have to celebrate the occasion. Then in our hottie highlight of the week, it's an Olympic greatness affair Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Cathryn Naiker is joined by NBA Writer Oren Weisfeld to congratulate him on announcing his first book about the growth of men's basketball in Canada! Then they discuss the big story this week about the Warriors trying to get LeBron James. We analyze what we see as a publicity move from both sides. Then All-Star Weekend is upon us! We talk about the main events and pick our winners for the slam dunk contest, and 3-point shoot-out. Steph vs Sabrina and All-Star MVP. Then we look at the remainder of the season and make bold predictions Is Trae Young going to ask out of Atlanta? Will Miami make the Eastern Conference finals again? and more! Then in our Raptors homer moment, we talk about Scottie Barnes leaving the bench before the game was over and the contradicting statements the following day. What does it all mean? Is Scottie ready to be a leader? and what does he need at this point in his career? Then we talk about Pascal Siakam's return to Toronto. What it was like in the stadium and the Jersey's planted in section 119 to honour him. In our Hottie Highlight of the week, it goes to the 905 for their very cool Black History Month jersey.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Video for this podcast is available on RR's channel: https://youtube.com/raptorsrepublic (subscribe to it and make sure to rate this podcast in your podcast app - it means a lot to us).--Zarar Siddiqi is joined by Blake Murphy to discuss the scenarios and possible complications behind an OG Anunoby extension. Two pieces in The Athletic (still just $1.25/mo) were published on this topic:OG Anunoby presents a fascinating rookie extension dilemma for the Raptorshttps://theathletic.com/2113946/2020/10/05/og-anunoby-presents-a-fascinating-rookie-extension-dilemma-for-the-raptors/Murphy and Koreen: Role-playing through a mock OG Anunoby contract negotiationhttps://theathletic.com/2116490/2020/10/06/murphy-and-koreen-role-playing-through-a-mock-og-anunoby-contract-negotiation/We dive into the options, the risks on both sides and finally come up with a most-likely outcome. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Zarar Siddiqi is joined by Ryan Imgrund (https://twitter.com/imgrund), who is a biostatistician for South Lake Regional Health Center. He is the Department Head of Science at York Catholic District School Board. Ryan provides analysis of the Covid-19 outbreak, and is the author of some valuable risk assessment tools and frameworks used by several Ontario institutions. His work has been featured on CBC, the Toronto Star, CTV and other media outlets.We discuss:- The quality of the guidance provided by the provincial government- The R0 metric and its importance - Target for the R0 metric- Why it's so difficult to calculate the R0 metric in Ontario (hint: contract tracing)- The failure to anticipate more symptomatic people in second wave than first- The challenges with random sampling to determine true infection rate; nasal and saliva tests- South Korea and Ontario - same problem, two different solutions- Data privacy and contract tracing; attitudes across cultures- Ontario not encouraging use of the contact tracing app enough- The lack of data to make informed decisions about what business to close- Having an event outdoor isn't enough - example from states- Doug Ford's looking for evidence that is impossible to collect- Just how did we end up opening strip clubs, and what's even worse than strip clubs- How much are schools contributing to the spike in cases- Do children transmit the virus less than adults?- New learning about Covid - "the viral load", getting and recovering from it isn't as black and white as we thought- Will the R0 number change if we keep things open?- How many daily cases to expect over the next few months if no changes to policy made?- Should we be concerned about hospital capacity?- Infections spreading to older population again with Thanksgiving coming up- What would Ryan advise from a policy standpoint to curb the spread?- Lack and inconsistency in tracking metrics on which to based decision-making- What defines a "second wave"?- A case count in March isn't the same as the same case count now, "700 now is like 3000 back in March"- The manual work involved to contact trace a single case- What needs to be true to play a Raptors home game at 25% capacity- What are the chances of 1500 people showing up at the Scotiabank center and none of them having Covid?- The most popular statistical chart for parents out there - chance of your particular child's class having a positive case (by region and class size)- How many people do you have to encounter in your region to meet someone with Covid?- Your chance to define an "encounter" and be safe- Are we repeating the mistakes from March/April?- Not all public health units being transparent about data- Use of data to inform school class sizes by neighborhood- The importance of the timing of class rotations- How deaths are predicted and whether new treatments influence the prediction models- Some Raptors talk Thank you for listening. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Samson Folk brings on coach, Evin Gualberto to discuss what's happening in the Conference Finals. - Spoelstra's Genius + Bam's Application of his Skills- Herro's Rise- Miami's Zone- Nikola Jokic & Jamal Murray's shot-making Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) talks about how the Raptors can re-sign Fred VanVleet to an extension while also being in play for Giannis Antetokounmpo. We talk:- Walk away price for Raptors- Key trade-offs Raptors must make- Whether VanVleet can take a shorter deal- Market competition for VanVleet- What the hometown discount might beTo read more check out Blake's detailed work at The Athletic on the subject:Raptors free agency primer: Cap sheet, assets, exceptions and the big picturehttps://theathletic.com/2063807/2020/09/15/raptors-free-agency-primer-cap-sheet-assets-exceptions-and-more-2/How much can the Raptors pay Fred VanVleet (and still have max money in 2021)?https://theathletic.com/2066700/2020/09/16/how-much-can-the-raptors-pay-fred-vanvleet-and-still-have-max-money-in-2021/Subscribe to Raptors Republic’s YouTube: http://bit.ly/37swsSNFollow us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/39zQT2fFollow us on Instagram: http://bit.ly/2F7OkX4Follow us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3akYvGnFollow us on Twitter: http://bit.ly/2FcHlvSHosted by Zarar Siddiqi. Presented by Raptors Republic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marc Gasol is a free-agent and the Raptors have a decision to make. Zarar Siddiqi talks with Vivek Jacob about:- What kind of deal Gasol can get from the Raptors?- Gasol's confidence hit in the post-season- Raptors options if Gasol leaves- Gasol's options and preferences- Could Gasol play for any other NBA team? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Samson Folk brings on his buddy, his pal, and fantastic writer, Louis Zatzman. - The season of summer camp- OG the defensive star- Pascal Siakam's Super Power- Will the offense change with front-court departures?- Kyle Lowry's adaptability and genius- Fred, the lead guard Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices