And now, the low post. Welcome to the low post podcast on a Tuesday morning. We are halfway through the NBA season in terms of games played and I have not checked in with our resident expert, color analyst on our biggest NBA games since the beginning of the season since pre season, so a lot of time has passed. We've got a lot of data. Jeff van Gundy, there's a lot to talk about. How are you, sir? Doing well, how are you? I'm doing well. What's to complain about? We're halfway through the NBA season. I was at raptors Knicks yesterday. I don't know if you saw that ending, one of the craziest endings I've ever seen in person almost an all time bad loss for the raptors it was insane. Yeah, it was a hard fought game and I did watch it and Fred van fleet. It reminded me of when he took a foul at Thai game, not knowing the score, that happened for us when I was with the Knicks as an assistant in 94 when we went to the finals. Or was it 95 Sam Mitchell took a file in a tie game, not knowing the score. And it ended up that was the Reggie Miller where he scored 8 and what 9 seconds? 8.9 seconds. Yeah. And in that game, Sam Mitchell fouled, I believe it was Starks, stars went to the line, missed both, and then they escaped. So it was really like, it brought back memories, you know, have always no one time score, penalty, time outs, all that. And that was crazy game. It was a tremendous win for the raptors and a really difficult loss for the Knicks. We could all agree, I mean, I realized that I'm talking to a biased party here. Reggie Miller fouled Greg Anthony on that inbounds pass, right? In that game, pushed him down, got to steal, turned around, hit a three. We could all agree that's a foul, right? Not in those days. I don't know. Yeah. That was just one of those things where like, you know, you preach all year play 48 and finish games and, you know, the bigger issue was we came out, I think it was up 6. No, might have even been more. And we just gave Reggie Miller a wide open catch and shoot three from a side out of bounds. I mean, you know, so we did everything wrong they did everything right in that period of time and unfortunately the bad guys won that one. Quick thoughts on the raptors that all eyes are on them as the trade deadline approaches their 20 and 24. They've now won four out of 5 to somewhat steady the ship, but as you know, coach just reading the tea leaves and reading the reports, the whole league is watching to see what are they going to do? Are they going to pivot? Are they going to trade one of their key starters and sort of retool or are they going to go full on rebuild and I think they're still just waiting to see kind of like, can we get it in gear a little bit? They've got a ton of road games, unfortunately for them coming up, they're a bunch of home games in the hole already. Road games in the hole already. I just watching that game. It was a win for them. Did it inspire faith? What are you seeing at a Toronto as we get to the halfway point? Well, they really struggle on offense. They've regressed in that area, and I'm not an everyday observer of Toronto. So I can't tell you exactly why obviously van fleet's dropped some in his shooting percentages. They're very reliant on one on one basketball. They don't have a lot of shooting, you know, Trent is obviously a great shooter. And they're tiny. Overall, they're a small group. So it'll be interesting, you know, like I know there's been a lot of hand ringing over Scottie Barnes and his, you know, whether he shoots it well enough, he made a big three yesterday and late in the game. But I thought he played it like a really good game yesterday, like on the offensive glass. I think sometimes we rush to anoint and then we rush to judge amen. Players and I think sometimes you just have to wait and see. And certainly Barnes, if they're going to play him at center, at some point he's going to have to be able to, you can't play a small center that can't. Shoot the ball. So I think, you know, the Knicks and I think it was the right move. They chose to play Robinson on siakam. Anna nobi with Randall and then they put a smaller Barrett on Barnes and I thought Barnes just really like mauled him when it counted the most. So I think it was a good win for them. Long term, do they have enough? To be a serious playoff team, probably not, and I'll be interesting to see what they choose to do. Yeah, you just, first of all, having a small center who can't shoot seems like a bad idea. It seems relevant to the Brooklyn Nets. Just apropos of nothing. You just nailed it. Let me put an asterisk unless you have Kevin Durant, who so don't go to, you know, I mean, literally like he's that good. Oh my God. And claxton is a great roller. Oh, I wasn't talking to her. I wasn't talking about claxton. Oh, you're John Simmons. Yeah. Well, they have the same strengths and they have the same issues, which is free throw shooting and, you know, all that. So yeah, Kevin Durant and Irving, are they erase a lot of possible negatives? You just nailed it with the raptors. It seems now safe to declare whether they make a little bit of a run, whether they slump whatever they end up doing, they just don't seem to have the goods to go deep into the playoffs. They just don't seem like a dangerous team. I don't see signs of them becoming a truly dangerous team, like a team like, oh, I don't want to see them in the first round, boy, they would have a punch of chance in the second round. It's just not, even when they win, you don't come away feeling like that's coming down the road. There's another thing we're gonna talk about later where when they win, I do feel like that is coming down the road. And Scotty Barnes, I couldn't agree more. The last two weeks have been almost like refreshing for me because he's been really, really good in the last two, three weeks when teams have started to play him kind of like Ben Simmons and draymond green, like we're just not going to guard you and see what you do. The next to your point did not do that last night, they reverted to the way that teams at guarded sky before. I've said all year, I read and hear all this Scotty Barnes and Evan mobley like angst, like, oh my God, have they regressed, and delete has in common Evan mobley shooting. I think 18% from three and Scotty Barnes is field goal percentage is down, like maybe we were all wrong about him. I'm like, what planet am I living on that these guys who are 20 and 21 years old on good teams figuring out their roles, particularly Scotty Barnes on a team with similar players to him. It's kind of an awkward awkward balancing act for all of them. Like we're already just disappointed in these guys. And I've watched him and I'd be like, I get that he hasn't made a leap, but I still think he's kind of playing okay, like his defense hasn't been as good as I hoped, and to shooting hasn't been as good as I hope but I don't watch him and feel like, oh my God, there's a problem, and I was beginning to feel like a crazy person coach. And the last two weeks have been refreshing for you 'cause I was just never really worried about either of those two guys. I'm still not. They're both gonna be awesome. I'm like, it's all fine. Yeah, and I think when we judge, we always judge that everybody should be an all time great.