May 6, 2026 • 46 mins
Former Timberwolves Vice President and Anthony Edwards confidante Dr. Robby Sikka joins Dan to discuss the quick recovery by Ant, what makes him different, the achilles problem in the NBA, the science of load management and more!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Man action tonight.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I'm assuming that game we'll available to you not only
on the Timberwolves channel via iHeart h and the iHeart app,
but via FM.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
One hundred point three The fan is that correct?
Speaker 4 (00:36):
Following a very special edition of the Parker Fox pregame
showing that seven o'clock.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
That's outstanding, we do expect Anthony Edwards to play again.
We'll talk about the possibility of a minute's restriction for
the second straight game. Iodsumu also is available for the
first time since what was his last game? Game five?
Do you play Game five? In the Denver series? He
was terrific in games three and four in that series.
(01:01):
I don't remember if he played five. He played five,
but was a late scratch for six. He did not
play at all in six, and obviously did not play
in a game one. Somebody can help us through all
of this. I've been with us before on this program.
A name probably pretty familiar to lots of Wolves fans,
doctor Robbie Sika, who is the founder and CEO of
Sports Medicine Analytics Research Team. You can do the short
(01:23):
version of that smart And of course, once upon a time,
not that long ago, was VP of Player Health and
operations for the Minnesota Timberwolves as well, and he joins
us via the Connectico Water Systems Highline.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Robbie, how have you been doing well? Dan?
Speaker 5 (01:38):
Thanks for having me. It was nice to catch up
with Guardsy too.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
It's a great opportunity for us, and because you can
answer some of the questions we muse about often and
some of them directly related to some of the Wolves
injury issues. Now, my understanding too is there's a nice
video going around that sort of attempted to lay out
the Anthony Edwards injury, most recent injury, the other knee,
(02:02):
so to speak, and then really his sequencing since then
to try to get in position to come back quicker
than certainly the original estimations. So before we get into
some of the weeds there, when a team declares, okay,
it's weak to week, or if the word seems to
(02:23):
get out he might be able to play late in
the second series against the Spurs, but realistically not before.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Do they always mean it or is that just part of.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
The approach of well, we'll play it conservatively knowing we
might end up being pleasantly surprised.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
What goes into all of that discussion, you.
Speaker 5 (02:45):
Know, there's a lot of discussions with the front office,
there's discussions with the agent, there's discussions with the player,
and there's also rules that you have to disclose things
from a competitive perspective by a certain time. We know
that the NBA and any sports league is going to
have rules in this case. You know, the unique thing
is you have a player who's super competitive. He wants
(03:07):
to play, he wants to do everything he can to
be on the court. You don't always have that. You
have a lot of players who are out there who
are trying to be conservative. There might be other factors
in play, but with Anthony, the goal is the kid
just wants to play. Like the guy is just driven
to be out there. So it really starts with the
(03:27):
conversation with the player. That's really really important because you're
taking where he is he and how is he feeling
and then saying what are you willing to do to
get out there? And he's willing to do anything and everything.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Has he always been that ready? Is that part of
the maturation process with him? What's your own experience in
that sense?
Speaker 5 (03:49):
You know, I was there for his first draft workout
in LA and we wanted to put him in a
situation where we wanted to see what is he capable
of when he's signed.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
So we had him.
Speaker 5 (04:02):
Run the basically the equivalent of the NFL forty there's
an NBA three quarter court sprint, and we had him
run that at the end of his workout, which is
kind of a mean thing to do, but we want
to see, Hey, what does this guy have inside to
deliver when he's tired. And he was the fastest player
in the NBA at the end of the workout. Wow,
(04:23):
that's something that's not normal. So you're like, even when
somebody's gassed, he's got something inside of him.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
So when you say he's got something inside of him,
is he different because of the drive or is it physiological?
I mean, with some players more than others. What defines
what explains why he's different.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
With him?
Speaker 5 (04:49):
I think there's a physiological component because he's strong, he
has an explosiveness that is generational that not every athlete has.
But there's also a want to and there's a competitiveness
that you know, as I was talking to guards you before,
I said, this is the type of athlete who it's
rare that I would say this, because you know, when
(05:11):
I was just when I was growing up in town
and when I really started spending time in sports medicine,
Randy Moss was the greatest athlete in this community. And
he has the athleticism of Moss. He has the competitiveness
of KG and the charisma of Kirbie Pucketts all in one.
And you need all three to be able to lift
(05:33):
yourself up or have others lift you up, or you
lift others up in that moment. And so I say this,
you know, with all due respect to all three of
those athletes, this guy has all three of those factors.
And Ricky Rubio told me, and for rookie year, this
kid's the best leader I've been around, and Rickey's been
around a lot of good leaders. So when Ricky tells
(05:53):
me that, I take it seriously because I also thought
Ricky was a really good leader too.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Very yeah, very observant young man, that's for sure, Ricky Rubio,
we could spend another whole segment on, you know, the
injury that derailed his career and how things might have
been different in.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
That regard too. So on here's what's interesting to me.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
We talked about this before the series began, before we
got the word that indeed, he's upgraded to questionable and
there's a good chance he's going to play. And I
think I frustrated some fans with the discussion because they
took what I was saying as me saying the Wolves
are being reckless if they play him, and I really
didn't mean it wasn't that for me. That wasn't the
(06:34):
the What I was trying to imply. What I was
trying to say is these are big decisions that everybody's
got to, you know, think about the short term and
long term ramifications. Because for people who feel the same
way you do about Anthony Edwards, he's an investment and
he's not just the present in Minnesota, he is the
future as well. And there have been occasions in NBA history.
(06:58):
We talked about probably the most famous one where Tim
Duncan got hurt late in the two thousand season and
he got cleared medically, was ready to play in the playoffs,
and Greg Popovich shut him down. And his thinking at
the time was, I want to as a coach, if
I don't screw this up, we can win a lot
(07:20):
of titles with this guy. And so I'm going to
be more cautious the Spurs did get eliminated I think
pretty early in the playoffs that year. We'll never know
what might have happened if he had played, but the
moral of the story was I think Duncan played another
thirteen fourteen years and it's just a reminder not all
injuries are the same, but these are big, These are
momentous decisions that and all of these factors. To me,
(07:43):
absolutely teams are obligated to include them, even if ultimately
they tell the player like Anthony who wants to.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Go, that they don't really think he should go.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
How do you talk about that or give us your
sense of that perspective, because it's to me, it's really.
Speaker 5 (07:58):
Important that look, your points are outstanding because it's a
conversation and we can have all the data in the world.
I'm a data driven person. I have an AI company
and a data company that tries to use data to
help guide these decisions. But I think it's really important.
As a physician, I think about this a lot. As
opposed to just telling people, Hey, here's what we're going
(08:20):
to do. I try and ask questions, and it's the
thing that I've advocated and told to Anthony as well.
Ask questions, be thoughtful and ask why we know that.
You know, if it's Game seven and you're Tyree Haliburton
last year and you're trying to play and you're coming
off with castrain, hard to say don't play in that situation,
but you know, you got to ask questions to understand, Hey,
(08:43):
what are you willing to do? What are the risks?
And if Anthony asks those questions, he's thoughtful enough and
he's intelligent enough to interpret those responses relative to him.
I mean, I think he's very thoughtful and increasingly curious
about injuries. And I know he's asked other athletes in
town on who've gone through hamstring injuries and knee injuries.
He asked them, what do you do? What should I eat?
(09:06):
How much should I sleep? Those are the types of
things that when you're curious, that's ultimately what drove people
like Kobe Bryant. The great athletes are curious, the best
athletes ask questions, and that's what he's doing. I think
that's what the team is doing as well. And I
give them a lot of credit for not trying to
be boxed in but then saying, hey, what can we
do to protect him out there? What can we do
(09:27):
to make sure that he can perform out there. This
is where it goes into one of the other points
you made about ut restrictions.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
What do those.
Speaker 5 (09:35):
Ultimately do that do they actually work regard.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Right, Yeah, it's it's a fair question. Like when we
were chatting about his condition. You're the doctor, I'm not,
But my my gut thought was, Okay, he's got now
issues with both knees. Neither of those issues allegedly are structural,
which I assume is important in you know, when you're
(09:59):
evaluating in thinking about how to go forward.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
But the layman, I think.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Is likely to say, well, but if both knees are
if he's still recovering from from two different injuries or
conditions in both knees, does that make him potentially more
vulnerable to something more catastrophic? Is that a fair question
or does that have absolutely nothing actually nothing to do
(10:24):
with whether you say yay and nay as a doctor
to Anthony Edwards coming back to play when he did.
Speaker 5 (10:30):
Those are absolutely the right questions, and it goes back
to you know, are you at risk for another knee injury?
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Sure?
Speaker 5 (10:36):
Are you at risk for an achilles injury or a
quad injury or something else. Absolutely, so, how do we
take the highest risk scenario or the highest risk aspect
to this, Like, for example, in football, I might think, hey,
special team's places or the highest risk plays or certain
things are the highest risk. Can we mitigate that? Can
we take that part off the table? Can we optimize it?
(10:59):
How do we get a ris for someone like Anthony Edwards?
How many minutes does he need to play to actually
kind of get into a flow? Do we need to
use our timeouts a little bit more liberally? These are
the types of things that as you're trying to then
insert it into a game plan, how do you deal
with stoul trouble? How do you account for an overtime scenario.
It's a long story that I can give you another
time about Ryan Saunders and I talking about that in
(11:20):
real time with a minute restriction we had on a player.
And then the thing that really speaks to again Anthony
and his progression for the fans out there. I don't
know if you noticed this, but he actually was gesturing
towards coach Finch during the game, Hey I'm good, Yes,
I'm feeling okay. And that's the maturity of him advocating
(11:42):
him communicating effectively, him knowing how his coach is going
to respond. That's the part that should impress people for
the kids out there, when you advocate for yourself, when
you can communicate like that, that's the part that really,
I think is the part of the take home message here,
Because you have an athlete that's doing that that feel
you can't just trust it, but you've got to give
(12:03):
him a chance.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Well that's what I was going to ask. If you're
the coach, how much can you trust it? If the player,
you know, has a hard time being objective because in
his case, he wants to play, don't you have to
balance that with other more objective ways to find out
whether it makes sense to put them right back in
now or to stick with the plan that said, no,
(12:24):
we're waiting Anthony three more minutes, four more minutes, because
we do want to keep you right around twenty five minutes,
which was the goal obviously before the game began.
Speaker 5 (12:34):
Yeah, I mean, look, you've got to have somebody who
has the ability to be the bad guy. I was
the bad guy a lot when I was there full
time with the team, So you've got to have somebody
who's going to be the bad guy. I think Coach
Finch is from everything that I know. I think he's
a tough human being who you know, will do what
he needs to. But there's also really good people in
(12:54):
that organization like David Hines and Chris Hines. Yeah, I
mean they're willing to speak up. And that again, like
when you have a accountability and I mean, we don't
have to get political. But ultimately, like you know, and
I know, the best leaders have someone who's holding them accountable.
You need accountability and I think that they've built that
with him where they can challenge him. There's no feelings,
(13:14):
it's just business, right, it's the playoffs. There's no sadness. Hey,
we want to win, we want to compete. Are you
going to do this and are you going to communicate it?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Sounds like to a large extent, what you're telling us
on the basis of your experiences though, is the X
factor really can be the player, Because if you guys
on the basis of however you examine an injury or
the progress made once a player is down for whatever reason,
(13:45):
you may come to the conclusion that, hey, he's further
along than we thought. In the way we test this
particular injury the way we examine him and look at this,
but that ultimately, if the player says I'm not comfortab yet,
I don't feel it yet, there's still something off, You're
almost obligated at that point to back off. So you're
(14:07):
the ex the bonus or the X factor here is
even if you independently say I'm willing, we're willing to
sign off on this thing, if you don't have the
player saying I'm ready to I'm ready to get back
out there, none of the rest of it matters.
Speaker 5 (14:22):
Correct. That's the relationship part. That's where do you have
somebody who can get that honest answer and be able
to not have it sugarcoated and not have it be
driven by emotion or competitiveness. It's hey, what's the what's
the truth here? And that comes from experience, that comes
from having people who understand their role. And I mean,
(14:44):
I think one of the understated aspects to this is
this is the third time that this team has made
it to the second round. This is the third time
they're going through this. I think coach Finch was masterful
the last two games, true to truly masterful for performances
from him pulling strings, getting Terrence and others to play
(15:05):
their best basketball. So when you have stuff like that,
then you feel a little bit better. You feel like, hey,
there's good feel there's good experience. We've been through it.
And for Anthony, he's been through two tough injuries prior
to the knees getting hurt, so he's been through it.
He's battled, it's been a little bit of a stop
and start season. So I think that that experience has
(15:27):
taught him, don't take it for granted. Ask questions, be curious,
you know, be intelligent, be smart about what you're doing.
That's really really important.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
I guess what I'm leading to is whether you're talking
about a crunch time, taking the big shot, or even
how quickly you're willing to push it to come back
from an injury, there's either an IT factor there isn't,
because we all know there are players who talk tough
about I need the ball more, I want to take
(15:58):
the shot, but they shy away at the key moment,
and similar with an injury. I think that these guys
aren't all the same in that regard, and that does
seem to be one of the things that separates Anthony
correct is that there is. He wants all of it.
He may not always succeed, but he wants all of it.
Speaker 5 (16:18):
He does. And I think he's also somebody who sees
the capabilities in his teammates, right, I mean, obviously he's
been probably the biggest Jaden McDaniel supporter. Yeah, and now
the whole city is behind Jaden because he's awesome, and
he works his tail off and he's a little more
understated and he does a lot of the dirty work.
But Jade McDaniel is really really good and he's very
(16:42):
underappreciated across the NBA. So when you have someone like that,
and I remember when we interviewed Anthony for the draft,
he said his favorite moment from his freshman year at
Georgia was one of his teammates hitting a game winner,
not anything that he did. And we believe that, and
we saw that type of approach where he wants to
lift up others, but he's also not obviously not afraid
(17:05):
of the moment and taking it himself, and he's confident
in himself.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
We are chatting with doctor Robbie Sika, founder and CEO
of Sports Medicine Analytics Research Team, who used to course
have a major medical responsibilities player health responsibilities with the
Timberwolves as the vice president in that area in particular,
I'm hoping you can help us have a better understanding
(17:29):
regarding the relationship between the calf injury and the Achilles
because we now live in a world where the minute
we hear anything about a calf injury, oh my god,
we're thinking, well, that's the next thing right around the
corner is Achilles. And it's come up again as recently
as this week with Io desumu right, who missed, who
(17:49):
sat for Game six against Denver, not available for Game
one against San Antonio is expected back tonight. I'm assuming
you would tell me not all calf injuries are equal.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
But what is it?
Speaker 2 (18:02):
What have we learned about the relationship between one and
the other. And then, in this situation beyond the player,
how does the team and the medical people evaluate that
was too soon for him to come back, but now
it's okay. Is it a matter of how well he's
moving or is it that ongoing concern about one thing
(18:23):
leading to the cataclysmic Achilles injury?
Speaker 5 (18:27):
You know, when I was there, we hired jabbarja Lf,
who oversees sports science and kind of all the player tracking,
and he does a great job. He came from Houston
of tracking players and understanding every single movement, how fast
they move, how quickly they stop and start. All those
things are really really important. But this is something that
again for the listeners out there who are parents, I
(18:48):
want you guys to think about. We are seeing a
rise in achilles injuries, not just in basketball, but in
football and baseball across all major sports, and we're seeing
more soft tissue injuries in general. A lot of this
is related to the explosiveness of athletes. Everybody throws one
hundred plus miles an hour in baseball, right, everybody is
(19:08):
faster than ever. How many four sub four or four
guys do we have in the NFL that are d
linemen that we never had before. So we have players
who are faster than ever, jump higher, more explosive across
the board. We also have a society myself included, that
sleepless that are on our phones constantly that don't rest
(19:31):
and recover. Expecting an athlete to be more explosive than
ever and not take more recovery time and rest more.
It's kind of an insane theory. And basketball is now
stop and start, there's really no cutting. You see very
few acls in basketball now. You see far more hamstring
(19:52):
casts achilles because it's a stop and startleet get to
the rim, pull up for three. And what we're going
to have to do now is start to figure out
how we can prevent some of these injuries and get
better at reh having them so athletes can come back faster.
There's certainly a relationship between cast strains and achilles injuries.
There's certainly a relationship between ankle sprains and achilles injuries.
(20:15):
All these injuries have some relationship. And what one of
the challenges is when we have youth athletes that are
broken down from early sports specialization. Many of the things
that we do to force an athlete to play six,
you know, basketball games on a Saturday, why are we
doing that in AAU basketball and then you're expected to
play again on Sunday. That's not real life like that.
(20:38):
That's insane to do that to young athletes. So as
a society we have to ask these questions because nobody sleeps,
nobody recovers. And again, for the listeners out there, I
will say that one of the really unique things about
AMPI universe that hasn't been out there is he really
values sleep. That guy takes care of making sure that
he gets good sleep every night. And I really respect
(21:00):
that about him because he blocks off everything to make
sure that he sleeps.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
As you well know, this team, for a number of
years organizationally seem to have been one of the teams
that rejected in general, the whole concept of quote unquote
load management, and that can mean a lot of things
with a lot of different people. I've lauded that, notwithstanding
(21:25):
some of the things you're talking to us about the
reality of injuries and coming back too soon and all
those sorts of things. How involved were you with the
fact that this team seemed to reject a notion that
grew to such a level in the league that obviously
there are even you know, some rules changes made in
terms of winning postseason awards that we want to encourage
(21:47):
players to play more than they're playing, get sixty five
games at minimum. Where were you and all of that
discussion on load management.
Speaker 5 (21:54):
You know, I think that we put a pejorative sort
of sense of you know, on a turnlke world management.
Ultimately we should be doing his personalize and care across
the board. I don't think it's fair to tie compensation
to how many games you played, particularly for someone like Anthony,
who came back early from just about every injury that
he's had ever in his career. Kid's a warrior. Kid
(22:17):
does everything he can to be out there. He does
every single thing in terms of his recovery and training
and testing to be out there. But what we have
to recognize is that he's a unique athlete. He's different.
And expecting, for example, a thirty two year old player
(22:38):
to play sixty five games versus a twenty two year
old player, how is that fair? Because the average thirty
two year old player misses how many games due to
injury versus a twenty two year old So these standards
then become something that you just put something out there,
and it's not necessarily apples to apples. Anthony worked his tailoff,
had super rare injuries this year, and he was able
(23:02):
to come back faster than anyone else from all of
those injuries. So I think he deserves a lot of credit.
The rehab team deserves a lot of credit. The physical
therapy is the physical therapists and strength coaches who work
with him to keep him safe when he does return.
Deserve a lot of credit, and I think that the
team values helped because I know from all of the
(23:23):
statistics that we would look at games loss due to
injury injury risk. They do a great job they're of
taking care of players. It's also now you're in the
playoffs and the intensity is just a completely different ballgame,
which I'm sure everybody who's watching the games can can
speak to. These are super intense, super physical basketball games.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Last question for today, I appreciate the time. Do you
expect I don't know, guards you can tell me if
there's been any kind of update. I'm curious to know
what your feeling is. You may know, because you still
got a lot of good connections and sources that it's
likely that it's another one of the those games where
maybe Anthony they do try to keep him on a
(24:03):
minute restriction, and kind of what goes into the decision
of ratcheting it up from the you know, the the
initial plan.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
What do you expect tonight?
Speaker 5 (24:12):
You know, typically what you see is an increase of
four to six minutes per game. We know that he's
been stopping start since March, so expecting more what you're
hoping is that you know, you can get to a
situation where he can give you the crunch time minutes
that he gave you. Yeah, and he feels better and
he's able to deliver there. What worried me watching the
(24:33):
last game was what happens when you get to overtime? Right,
because if that game had gone to overtime, then you
start worrying, Hey, he is setting in. How do you
how do you then best manage it? So I would
expect a four to six minute increase. I would say that,
you know, when you look at all of the different factors,
the important thing is that you're protecting him and you're
keeping him safe, and you're you're making sure that he
(24:53):
can get into the playoff rhythm that he needs to
to perform at the peak level that the team needs.
I thought he felt out the game in game one,
he felt where his teammates were. He tried to get
them going. He didn't take shots early. I think you're
gonna see he's feeling good. Uh, you know through our
text messaging and everything. Uh, he had that. Iye after
(25:15):
the game. I think he's I think he's gonna play
really well tonight. I think Uh, the fans can get
excited about, uh, this team continuing to offend and play great.
And you know, I'm even optimistic about a wild win too,
because I think, uh, it's gonna be it's gonna be
a fun, fun spring here in Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
It's been. Yeah, it's already more fun than usual because
they're both in it, you know, which is historic. Have
you ever had a player attempt purposefully to flunk a
physical that you were giving them?
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Do you know?
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Do you know that's you know that the historical president
for that in Timberwolves.
Speaker 5 (25:49):
History, Uh, MARCELLA Webster.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
Well, that's a good one. I didn't.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
That might be another one, the one age one. That's
a that's a new age one. The original that I
remember was when when the Wolves traded Christian Latner. It
was to Atlanta, I think, and they got. The key
to the deal was they wanted a big man and
Atlanta had kind of a defensive center named Andrew lang
Is nicknamed I remember Brussher. And as the story goes,
(26:17):
lang did not want to be here. He was not
happy about it. He was devastated, and as the story goes,
according to some of my sources, he started bringing up
afflictions that you know, the wolves didn't even know he
might have had because he was trying so hard to
flunk the physical I just thought it's an interesting footnote
in Minnesota timberwolves lore.
Speaker 5 (26:39):
Look, there's a ton of funny footnotes in timberwolves lore.
We've been through a lot as wolves fans. But you know,
there's a thirty for thirty that's missing out there is
and Dan, you're you're kind of the wolf's his story
and you guys have done a great job of, you know,
putting all that together. Maybe that's something we need to
get Johnny Kay and a few others in a room, yes,
(27:02):
and we can talk through it. It's a thirty for
thirty that we should do for our own town.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Well, maybe if the club or win the club wins
a title, that's it. Then you can really dig deep
and maybe people will even be more honest because at
that point, statute of limitations is off on all the
bad stuff because they're no longer bad, you know what
I'm saying. Now, they're championship caliber. Because it does feel
like a different era, does it not. It's so contrary
(27:28):
to what once existed. Is you probably know pretty well
and guards. He grew up with it too. It's almost
astonishing some of the stuff that Wolves fans and the
organization endured back in the day compared to what it
is now. You know, a legitimate, stable, adult, well run organization.
Speaker 5 (27:48):
They didn't win a playoff series until I was twenty
two years old, twenty three years old, think about it.
So you know, my seven year old yas she certainly
has seen many playoff games at this point and see wins.
So don't get you know, don't take it for granted.
Appreciate this, and for the fans out there, appreciate the
(28:11):
athlete that Anthony is because again, he is a special
individual who wants to bring a championship here. It should
be really fun for us to enjoy this. He loves Minnesota,
he loves this community. This is you know, I grew
up here. We love when people love us. That's a
Minnesota thing, right, yes, no question. So this should be
(28:31):
fun for us because we've got someone who really wants
to do it right for us.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Enjoy tonight's game. Thanks for the extended conversations. Good to
get good to get caught up, and I'm glad you're
doing well.
Speaker 5 (28:43):
Likewise, guys, thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Absolutely, thank you, Doctor Robbie Sika, formerly vice president of
player Health and Operations for the Minnesota Timberwolves, now Big
Shot Founder and CEO of Sports Medicine Analytics Research Team.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
That is a mouthful. Thank God.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
We don't have business cards anymore because I don't think
the cards are big enough to include that entire title.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
Playoff Basketball is seating up.
Speaker 4 (29:07):
Carboni's Pizzeria wants to fuel your game.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
To watch party tonight.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
Stop by one of thirty plus locations score delicious Pizza.
Get ready for the playoff grind Order today at carbonispizza
dot com.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Seal of Approval coming up next segment.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Don't forget We've got Russo Radio Top of the Hour
at Kessler yet to come as well. The most unique
excuse I think I might have ever heard offered up
by a player attempting to explain the challenges of guarding
(29:48):
another player.
Speaker 3 (29:49):
Have you heard about this one? I don't think I have.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
You're familiar with Jalen Bronson, Yes, outstanding score for the
New York Knicks, who've been on fire yep ever since
they discovered they Karl Anthony Towns on the team to
run a lot of their offense through him, rather than
just Brunson bouncing the ball, bouncing the ball, bouncing the ball.
Speaker 4 (30:07):
Do we think Jayden will guard Brunson or kat in
the finals? Nice the angles right themselves if those two
teams meet. Wondering are you familiar with a Philadelphia seventy
six er named Kelly Ubray Junior?
Speaker 6 (30:21):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (30:22):
After game one in which I think Jalen did he
have over forty?
Speaker 3 (30:27):
He had over thirty, He got over thirty, for sure,
they were coaching. For sure. They won by like fifty.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Ubra was asked about the challenges of guarding Jalen Brunson. Obviously,
he has a big head, so it's definitely tough to
guard him with his head and all that. Yeah, I mean,
he can whip me all he wants with his braids,
but you're not getting free like that. So so he
(30:55):
mentions the size of his cranium a couple times, and
then he says beyond that the yeah, he's viewing I
guess as an extension of the head. But I guess
I'd never really thought about the size of Jalen Brunson's
head being one of his greatest scoring assets.
Speaker 4 (31:11):
Now it's all I'm gonna see how good is that.
I'd never thought about the braids. The only time I
ever thought about hair coming into play was when like
an NFL player would have the braids coming out of
the back of the helmet. You could like pull them
from behind to try to tackle. I never thought of
them as a stiff farm. And here's the thing, though,
(31:33):
here's what's weird. I can make the argument that Oubre's
hair is longer. It's not in braids, but is longer
than Brunson's. He does have a little bit of float
up he's got.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Yeah, he's got two colors, black on one side and almost
like a red dark red on the other.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Yeah, So there is the big head defense. What do
you want me to do? It's got a big cranium
and it's just kid. It's difficult to guard some but
he with a big cranium like that? How good is that?
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Sounds like the third It does hundred percent true. I'll
give you the short version now of the latest anonymous athletic,
in this case basketball poll of players.
Speaker 4 (32:17):
Right, and I did not look, even though I was
tempted when you told me about this.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
They in this case, I think they they convinced one
hundred and sixty one players to participate in this anonymous
poll in various categories underrated, overrated coaches, et cetera. That's
about I think half in the league. That's a pretty
good I think it's the most they've ever had. And
you're allowed to take your make you know, do your
votes anonymously for all the obvious reasons. There's several categories
(32:49):
worthy of discussion. I will just get to one, maybe two,
maybe three Best defensive player. Who do you think won it?
Speaker 3 (33:03):
Wemby?
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Wemby wins it at forty one percent, which is about
to be expected.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
Yep, you care to even with the goaltends, even with
the goaltends. We'll get to that during the seal of approval.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
You want to take a guess on what where Rudy
ranks Wemby is won? Where is Rudy Gobert according to
this anonymous player's poll best Defensive Player in Basketball?
Speaker 3 (33:29):
How many players are listed in the poll? I think like.
Speaker 4 (33:34):
Maybe even twenty five. I think twenty I'm going to say,
I'm going to say he's like nineteen or not even
on there.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
Fifteenth.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Yeah, I kind of I think I kind of alerted
you to where it was going. Yeah, Wemby had forty
one percent. Rudy Gobert finished fifteenth at two point zero percent.
Speaker 4 (33:56):
How about most overrated player? Yeah, we need to get
to the basketball We need to get back to these
the most overrated basketball player in basketball. You'll never guess
who won it. I didn't guess it, but maybe you can't.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
Most over the.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Overrated single basketball player in basketball. And it was a
pretty dominant performance, not as dominant as Wemby.
Speaker 4 (34:18):
What conference? West Chat, No, that's just me Shengoon?
Speaker 3 (34:25):
Oh that would have been my guest. Seriously.
Speaker 4 (34:27):
Oh, I've been on that for two years. He is
I don't get it, and he did not have a
good playoffs and now his trade value to get a
Yannis trade is nothing.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Right, but behind Sangoon as the most overrated player, not
in the Western Conference but in the NBA, Rudy Gobert.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
It's all become kind of a comedy. It's kind of
become farce. And he's in second place at eight point
six percent.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
Most.
Speaker 4 (34:55):
I'd love to know how many of these players are
still playing, by the way, well, like the best defenders,
like all of that, probably not as many.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
There's a couple other categories we'll get to.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Let's stay on schedule, Let's get to the bumper to
bumper seal of approval, Kessler yet to come. Russo Radio
Top of the Hour. Are the Minnesota Wild in decent trouble?
Are they in horrific trouble?
Speaker 3 (35:18):
Is it over? Is it? Is it fixable?
Speaker 2 (35:22):
And who starts in the net when the series resumes
in Minnesota Saturday night.
Speaker 3 (35:28):
All that with Russo coming up in about I don't
know twenty minutes.
Speaker 4 (35:33):
Women's soccer when Minnesota Aurora returns for their home opener
on May twenty first, seven pm at TCO Stadium in Egan.
Tickets for all games on sale now at Mnaurora dot com.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
Most impressive coach beside your own, according to the anonymous
NBA Players Poll, one hundred and sixty one plays pulled
by the athletic most impressive coach besides your own? Any
predictions on who won it? Tag a stab at it,
(36:13):
Dagna close? I think he was two or three. Missoula, Yeah,
finished first, people like Joe Finchy does not show up
on the pole at all.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
That's fine. As much as we like to be is
not mentioned on this poll.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
Perhaps perhaps because I know he listens to the show
and podcasts it a lot, we can make him feel
a little bit better by issuing him.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
It's the buffer to bumper seal of approval.
Speaker 3 (36:47):
Anybody listens to.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
This show knows generally my position on referee whining is
pretty negative, but I will grant one exception, especially after victory.
But it doesn't always have to be after victory. When
(37:08):
you offer up a series of comments that has long
time NBA media observers like Michael Wilbon linking Finshy to
the all time refbating greats, including Pat Riley and Phil Jackson,
(37:34):
the zen Master, you deserve and get and should receive
the bumper bumper seal of approval.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
Will Bond was gushing about him. That was yeah, That's
what I was just saying. Yeah. The part that I
like is I do I do create a.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Distinction generally between players and coaches. And I've always felt
there's a piece of this that is a part of
a smart coach's job, and it's an art that you
can't abuse.
Speaker 3 (38:07):
You can't go to the well.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
Every fifteen minutes, but you can occasionally put an idea
into the minds of everybody, including the referees involved in
the next game, when you muse the way he mused,
almost saying it matter of factly, not pounding his fist,
that Wemby should have been called for goaltending like eight, nine,
(38:31):
ten or eleven times. Now he exaggerated it. It's not
that many. I think there were two, for sure. I
might be convinced on a third. But doesn't matter if
you're the coach and you're trying to plant a seed
allah the masters in the postseason pat Riley and most
(38:52):
assuredly how many times did philed?
Speaker 3 (38:54):
Just how often did Big Chief Triangle do it?
Speaker 2 (38:57):
And often, I think with some effectiveness, And so anything
you can do to link yourselves to those Master NBA
playoff psychologists on the coaching sidelines, that's a big win.
And the bonus is you did it after a victory. Yes,
now they didn't always do it after a victory, because
(39:18):
occasionally be after a loss. But I do think, as
I said earlier, it has even greater strength after a
victory and you got nothing to lose.
Speaker 3 (39:26):
It's not like the.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
Kind of thing that well, Wemby's going to be really annoyed.
And now he's going to block twenty five shots, right,
which people said, did they really?
Speaker 3 (39:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (39:33):
I don't, Yeah, I don't. I think he's blocking as many.
He'll block as many as he can, regardless of what
he says. But then you put it in the refs
head a little bit. Who knows that they might not
have any impact on I'm not saying it's going to
tilt the balance of the series, but I most assuredly
thought it was very well played, smartly played, and the
key to it is the matter of fact way he
(39:56):
delivered it. Yes, I thought it was not because he
wasn't screaming. He just laying it out, oh, you know,
in a very matter of fact fashion. So we already
kind of gave in the steel approval yesterday for the
way he handled Anthony's minutes restriction for Game one.
Speaker 3 (40:12):
I thought that was masterful.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
Although Robbie Asika, Doctor Robbie Sika brought up a good point.
You know, that's the X The X factor is on
these minute restrictions is what if the game goes into
OT it's a little scary and then it gets a
little bit funky. Do you actually have the cajones to
pull him out of an overtime game in the Western
Conference semifinals.
Speaker 3 (40:31):
Who's to say? Who knows?
Speaker 2 (40:32):
We have not yet had any word. Have we on
whether he will start tonight? It sounds like Robbie expects
the minutes to go up five, yes.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
Six, Yeah, would you aage out to five? Yes?
Speaker 2 (40:45):
So, But we have not heard anything officially yet. Have
we on starting lineup tonight?
Speaker 4 (40:50):
No, that's typically posted hour and a half hour before
the game.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
So do you start the same lineup if he doesn't start,
you start the same lineup you did in game one?
Speaker 3 (41:00):
Or do you start to Suomo?
Speaker 2 (41:02):
I would think by the same logic, they'll probably say,
you know what, this isn't too bad. We'll bring Anthony
Edwards and and and and Io de Sumo off the
bench and that I love it.
Speaker 4 (41:11):
Yes, And it's also that then you can get your
Mike Conley minutes in there too. And he's a guy
who started for eighteen years. I know this year he
came out the bench and his role was nothing after
he came back here after being traded. Yes, yeah, right,
But my point is that's the whole like, that's where
he's come to. Yes, that's true, and I'm guessing it's
like riding the bike for him to go out there,
(41:33):
and obviously they're gonna hunt him. Obviously he's gonna give
up some things defensively, but having Io come in against
their second unit, I like that too.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
I like that as well.
Speaker 4 (41:43):
The other thing I liked about Finchy was gave Johnny
athletic great camera time he did in his athletic hat,
which we still don't have even though we have multiple
that one forget it, and asking Johnny, uh, Johnny big
Wallet if he would take a thirty three percent ray,
I mean that's would you take a thirty three percent raise?
(42:05):
And Johnny said, hoo hoo, boy, I would So I
like that too. Good Sports Center and first take time
for Johnny. Well, we'll wait until we'll get a little
more into the poll at we'll have a short segment after. Well,
actually no, we might go along on Russo.
Speaker 3 (42:21):
Yeah, we'll probably go right to Kesseler. Why don't we
do this? Why don't we?
Speaker 2 (42:24):
Can you get ready the Kendrick Perkins sound I sent you.
I think that's about two and a half minutes? Is
it maybe that or is it three? Because okay, good,
even better, it's it's not that long then If you're
a Wolves fan, I'm assuming you're gonna love what Kendrick
Perkins had to say. Maybe you've already heard it. If
you haven't, you need to hear it. The question is
(42:45):
whether you are terrified by it, because in effect, he's
going on the basis of one game, at least in
this series, from utter and total belief in one team
to utter and total I guess you could say coronation
of a champion of the other team. Let's listen to
this is a thing from yesterday. I'm not mistaken Kendrick
(43:07):
Perkins on Wolves Spurs.
Speaker 6 (43:09):
It was the player Anthony Hillwards. And by the way,
then me start off by telling him thank you, as
a former player, thank you, because this is what we've
been missing, this is what we've been wanting. The bar
has been set. This man is out here playing on
two hurt knees and told the doctors, I ain't hear
(43:30):
what y'all trying to talk about. I'm going out here
and I'm going hoop and push the line for his squad.
And so when you think about what he done going
out there, he came in off the bench, he was
he was efficient, he was effective, He played with passion,
and I'm gonna say this. I know I picked the
San Antonio Spurs to win the championship, and I'm gonna
(43:52):
say right now that I was wrong. I was wrong,
and I'm gonna take all the heat that comes with
it because they're not going to win this series. They're
not going to win this series. I know when the
team has that it factor. The Minnesota Timberwolves, they got
that it factor.
Speaker 3 (44:11):
Those guys are on.
Speaker 6 (44:12):
I used to call the Miami Heat when they had
Jimmy Butler and Bam and they made their final run.
The goons from Day County, Well, these are the goons
from Minnesota because they want all the smoke. I don't
care if it's chimney smoke, cigarette smoke, or barbecue smoke.
They are running to it. They're playing with a certain
type of edge, They're playing with a certain type of tenacity.
(44:35):
They have a certain type of spirit that's going on
through that locker room, and that damn Jade McDaniels. We
have a lot of great and good wing defenders around
the league, but he is the best wing defender in
the game. Here's here's where it's gonna come down to.
And this is why I'm jumping off the porch right now.
(44:55):
Y'all can give me all the heat that y'all want.
But the guards of the Senate it's Onnio Spurs, Steph Oncast,
and dianon Fox. They are going to struggle tremendously in
this series because these guys, the wings and the guard play,
and the defenders that the Minnesota Timberwolves have, especially Jay McDaniels.
Speaker 7 (45:16):
They're not backing down, by the way, for the record,
But by the way, first, I guess I should ask
does that inspire you, arouse you, or terrify you?
Speaker 4 (45:26):
Well, this is where playoff experience comes in because I
remember two years ago after the Wolves knocked off Denver
in Game two, the Doberman Defense game, the heat Pack game,
and Steven A came on the.
Speaker 3 (45:39):
Next day and said, yes, that's true.
Speaker 4 (45:41):
I believe that the Timberwolves are going to win the
NBA Championship, and I allow that to excite me. But
I also know how things can turn out, so it
doesn't terrify me because of the playoff experience. I'm mostly
enjoying the ride, like Robbie Sieka told us to, so
it doesn't terrify me.
Speaker 3 (45:58):
It does excite me, though, the.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
League's best defensive player, according to the anonymous Paul we
mentioned when Banyana when Banyama easily first at forty one percent.
A former Minnesota Timberwolf draft choice is number two in votes,
tied with Kawhi Leonard. His name is Chris don I
(46:20):
was going to say it's got to be done right Clippers.
Then Scottie Barnes four percent, along with also at four
percent Jaden, McDaniels, and Wallace and Thompson a couple of
others most underrated player. Jaden finished in fourteenth place, below
(46:41):
Chris Dunn and a few percentage points ahead of nas Reed.
Speaker 3 (46:46):
Who also got a few votes.
Speaker 2 (46:48):
Hockey is next, Russo Radio, you have questions for him.
Six four six eighty six. That's the Bradshaw on Bryant
k FA n Tech
Man action tonight.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I'm assuming that game we'll available to you not only
on the Timberwolves channel via iHeart h and the iHeart app,
but via FM.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
One hundred point three The fan is that correct?
Speaker 4 (00:36):
Following a very special edition of the Parker Fox pregame
showing that seven o'clock.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
That's outstanding, we do expect Anthony Edwards to play again.
We'll talk about the possibility of a minute's restriction for
the second straight game. Iodsumu also is available for the
first time since what was his last game? Game five?
Do you play Game five? In the Denver series? He
was terrific in games three and four in that series.
(01:01):
I don't remember if he played five. He played five,
but was a late scratch for six. He did not
play at all in six, and obviously did not play
in a game one. Somebody can help us through all
of this. I've been with us before on this program.
A name probably pretty familiar to lots of Wolves fans,
doctor Robbie Sika, who is the founder and CEO of
Sports Medicine Analytics Research Team. You can do the short
(01:23):
version of that smart And of course, once upon a time,
not that long ago, was VP of Player Health and
operations for the Minnesota Timberwolves as well, and he joins
us via the Connectico Water Systems Highline.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Robbie, how have you been doing well? Dan?
Speaker 5 (01:38):
Thanks for having me. It was nice to catch up
with Guardsy too.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
It's a great opportunity for us, and because you can
answer some of the questions we muse about often and
some of them directly related to some of the Wolves
injury issues. Now, my understanding too is there's a nice
video going around that sort of attempted to lay out
the Anthony Edwards injury, most recent injury, the other knee,
(02:02):
so to speak, and then really his sequencing since then
to try to get in position to come back quicker
than certainly the original estimations. So before we get into
some of the weeds there, when a team declares, okay,
it's weak to week, or if the word seems to
(02:23):
get out he might be able to play late in
the second series against the Spurs, but realistically not before.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Do they always mean it or is that just part of.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
The approach of well, we'll play it conservatively knowing we
might end up being pleasantly surprised.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
What goes into all of that discussion, you.
Speaker 5 (02:45):
Know, there's a lot of discussions with the front office,
there's discussions with the agent, there's discussions with the player,
and there's also rules that you have to disclose things
from a competitive perspective by a certain time. We know
that the NBA and any sports league is going to
have rules in this case. You know, the unique thing
is you have a player who's super competitive. He wants
(03:07):
to play, he wants to do everything he can to
be on the court. You don't always have that. You
have a lot of players who are out there who
are trying to be conservative. There might be other factors
in play, but with Anthony, the goal is the kid
just wants to play. Like the guy is just driven
to be out there. So it really starts with the
(03:27):
conversation with the player. That's really really important because you're
taking where he is he and how is he feeling
and then saying what are you willing to do to
get out there? And he's willing to do anything and everything.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Has he always been that ready? Is that part of
the maturation process with him? What's your own experience in
that sense?
Speaker 5 (03:49):
You know, I was there for his first draft workout
in LA and we wanted to put him in a
situation where we wanted to see what is he capable
of when he's signed.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
So we had him.
Speaker 5 (04:02):
Run the basically the equivalent of the NFL forty there's
an NBA three quarter court sprint, and we had him
run that at the end of his workout, which is
kind of a mean thing to do, but we want
to see, Hey, what does this guy have inside to
deliver when he's tired. And he was the fastest player
in the NBA at the end of the workout. Wow,
(04:23):
that's something that's not normal. So you're like, even when
somebody's gassed, he's got something inside of him.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
So when you say he's got something inside of him,
is he different because of the drive or is it physiological?
I mean, with some players more than others. What defines
what explains why he's different.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
With him?
Speaker 5 (04:49):
I think there's a physiological component because he's strong, he
has an explosiveness that is generational that not every athlete has.
But there's also a want to and there's a competitiveness
that you know, as I was talking to guards you before,
I said, this is the type of athlete who it's
rare that I would say this, because you know, when
(05:11):
I was just when I was growing up in town
and when I really started spending time in sports medicine,
Randy Moss was the greatest athlete in this community. And
he has the athleticism of Moss. He has the competitiveness
of KG and the charisma of Kirbie Pucketts all in one.
And you need all three to be able to lift
(05:33):
yourself up or have others lift you up, or you
lift others up in that moment. And so I say this,
you know, with all due respect to all three of
those athletes, this guy has all three of those factors.
And Ricky Rubio told me, and for rookie year, this
kid's the best leader I've been around, and Rickey's been
around a lot of good leaders. So when Ricky tells
(05:53):
me that, I take it seriously because I also thought
Ricky was a really good leader too.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Very yeah, very observant young man, that's for sure, Ricky Rubio,
we could spend another whole segment on, you know, the
injury that derailed his career and how things might have
been different in.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
That regard too. So on here's what's interesting to me.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
We talked about this before the series began, before we
got the word that indeed, he's upgraded to questionable and
there's a good chance he's going to play. And I
think I frustrated some fans with the discussion because they
took what I was saying as me saying the Wolves
are being reckless if they play him, and I really
didn't mean it wasn't that for me. That wasn't the
(06:34):
the What I was trying to imply. What I was
trying to say is these are big decisions that everybody's
got to, you know, think about the short term and
long term ramifications. Because for people who feel the same
way you do about Anthony Edwards, he's an investment and
he's not just the present in Minnesota, he is the
future as well. And there have been occasions in NBA history.
(06:58):
We talked about probably the most famous one where Tim
Duncan got hurt late in the two thousand season and
he got cleared medically, was ready to play in the playoffs,
and Greg Popovich shut him down. And his thinking at
the time was, I want to as a coach, if
I don't screw this up, we can win a lot
(07:20):
of titles with this guy. And so I'm going to
be more cautious the Spurs did get eliminated I think
pretty early in the playoffs that year. We'll never know
what might have happened if he had played, but the
moral of the story was I think Duncan played another
thirteen fourteen years and it's just a reminder not all
injuries are the same, but these are big, These are
momentous decisions that and all of these factors. To me,
(07:43):
absolutely teams are obligated to include them, even if ultimately
they tell the player like Anthony who wants to.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Go, that they don't really think he should go.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
How do you talk about that or give us your
sense of that perspective, because it's to me, it's really.
Speaker 5 (07:58):
Important that look, your points are outstanding because it's a
conversation and we can have all the data in the world.
I'm a data driven person. I have an AI company
and a data company that tries to use data to
help guide these decisions. But I think it's really important.
As a physician, I think about this a lot. As
opposed to just telling people, Hey, here's what we're going
(08:20):
to do. I try and ask questions, and it's the
thing that I've advocated and told to Anthony as well.
Ask questions, be thoughtful and ask why we know that.
You know, if it's Game seven and you're Tyree Haliburton
last year and you're trying to play and you're coming
off with castrain, hard to say don't play in that situation,
but you know, you got to ask questions to understand, Hey,
(08:43):
what are you willing to do? What are the risks?
And if Anthony asks those questions, he's thoughtful enough and
he's intelligent enough to interpret those responses relative to him.
I mean, I think he's very thoughtful and increasingly curious
about injuries. And I know he's asked other athletes in
town on who've gone through hamstring injuries and knee injuries.
He asked them, what do you do? What should I eat?
(09:06):
How much should I sleep? Those are the types of
things that when you're curious, that's ultimately what drove people
like Kobe Bryant. The great athletes are curious, the best
athletes ask questions, and that's what he's doing. I think
that's what the team is doing as well. And I
give them a lot of credit for not trying to
be boxed in but then saying, hey, what can we
do to protect him out there? What can we do
(09:27):
to make sure that he can perform out there. This
is where it goes into one of the other points
you made about ut restrictions.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
What do those.
Speaker 5 (09:35):
Ultimately do that do they actually work regard.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Right, Yeah, it's it's a fair question. Like when we
were chatting about his condition. You're the doctor, I'm not,
But my my gut thought was, Okay, he's got now
issues with both knees. Neither of those issues allegedly are structural,
which I assume is important in you know, when you're
(09:59):
evaluating in thinking about how to go forward.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
But the layman, I think.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Is likely to say, well, but if both knees are
if he's still recovering from from two different injuries or
conditions in both knees, does that make him potentially more
vulnerable to something more catastrophic? Is that a fair question
or does that have absolutely nothing actually nothing to do
(10:24):
with whether you say yay and nay as a doctor
to Anthony Edwards coming back to play when he did.
Speaker 5 (10:30):
Those are absolutely the right questions, and it goes back
to you know, are you at risk for another knee injury?
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Sure?
Speaker 5 (10:36):
Are you at risk for an achilles injury or a
quad injury or something else. Absolutely, so, how do we
take the highest risk scenario or the highest risk aspect
to this, Like, for example, in football, I might think, hey,
special team's places or the highest risk plays or certain
things are the highest risk. Can we mitigate that? Can
we take that part off the table? Can we optimize it?
(10:59):
How do we get a ris for someone like Anthony Edwards?
How many minutes does he need to play to actually
kind of get into a flow? Do we need to
use our timeouts a little bit more liberally? These are
the types of things that as you're trying to then
insert it into a game plan, how do you deal
with stoul trouble? How do you account for an overtime scenario.
It's a long story that I can give you another
time about Ryan Saunders and I talking about that in
(11:20):
real time with a minute restriction we had on a player.
And then the thing that really speaks to again Anthony
and his progression for the fans out there. I don't
know if you noticed this, but he actually was gesturing
towards coach Finch during the game, Hey I'm good, Yes,
I'm feeling okay. And that's the maturity of him advocating
(11:42):
him communicating effectively, him knowing how his coach is going
to respond. That's the part that should impress people for
the kids out there, when you advocate for yourself, when
you can communicate like that, that's the part that really,
I think is the part of the take home message here,
Because you have an athlete that's doing that that feel
you can't just trust it, but you've got to give
(12:03):
him a chance.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Well that's what I was going to ask. If you're
the coach, how much can you trust it? If the player,
you know, has a hard time being objective because in
his case, he wants to play, don't you have to
balance that with other more objective ways to find out
whether it makes sense to put them right back in
now or to stick with the plan that said, no,
(12:24):
we're waiting Anthony three more minutes, four more minutes, because
we do want to keep you right around twenty five minutes,
which was the goal obviously before the game began.
Speaker 5 (12:34):
Yeah, I mean, look, you've got to have somebody who
has the ability to be the bad guy. I was
the bad guy a lot when I was there full
time with the team, So you've got to have somebody
who's going to be the bad guy. I think Coach
Finch is from everything that I know. I think he's
a tough human being who you know, will do what
he needs to. But there's also really good people in
(12:54):
that organization like David Hines and Chris Hines. Yeah, I
mean they're willing to speak up. And that again, like
when you have a accountability and I mean, we don't
have to get political. But ultimately, like you know, and
I know, the best leaders have someone who's holding them accountable.
You need accountability and I think that they've built that
with him where they can challenge him. There's no feelings,
(13:14):
it's just business, right, it's the playoffs. There's no sadness. Hey,
we want to win, we want to compete. Are you
going to do this and are you going to communicate it?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Sounds like to a large extent, what you're telling us
on the basis of your experiences though, is the X
factor really can be the player, Because if you guys
on the basis of however you examine an injury or
the progress made once a player is down for whatever reason,
(13:45):
you may come to the conclusion that, hey, he's further
along than we thought. In the way we test this
particular injury the way we examine him and look at this,
but that ultimately, if the player says I'm not comfortab yet,
I don't feel it yet, there's still something off, You're
almost obligated at that point to back off. So you're
(14:07):
the ex the bonus or the X factor here is
even if you independently say I'm willing, we're willing to
sign off on this thing, if you don't have the
player saying I'm ready to I'm ready to get back
out there, none of the rest of it matters.
Speaker 5 (14:22):
Correct. That's the relationship part. That's where do you have
somebody who can get that honest answer and be able
to not have it sugarcoated and not have it be
driven by emotion or competitiveness. It's hey, what's the what's
the truth here? And that comes from experience, that comes
from having people who understand their role. And I mean,
(14:44):
I think one of the understated aspects to this is
this is the third time that this team has made
it to the second round. This is the third time
they're going through this. I think coach Finch was masterful
the last two games, true to truly masterful for performances
from him pulling strings, getting Terrence and others to play
(15:05):
their best basketball. So when you have stuff like that,
then you feel a little bit better. You feel like, hey,
there's good feel there's good experience. We've been through it.
And for Anthony, he's been through two tough injuries prior
to the knees getting hurt, so he's been through it.
He's battled, it's been a little bit of a stop
and start season. So I think that that experience has
(15:27):
taught him, don't take it for granted. Ask questions, be curious,
you know, be intelligent, be smart about what you're doing.
That's really really important.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
I guess what I'm leading to is whether you're talking
about a crunch time, taking the big shot, or even
how quickly you're willing to push it to come back
from an injury, there's either an IT factor there isn't,
because we all know there are players who talk tough
about I need the ball more, I want to take
(15:58):
the shot, but they shy away at the key moment,
and similar with an injury. I think that these guys
aren't all the same in that regard, and that does
seem to be one of the things that separates Anthony
correct is that there is. He wants all of it.
He may not always succeed, but he wants all of it.
Speaker 5 (16:18):
He does. And I think he's also somebody who sees
the capabilities in his teammates, right, I mean, obviously he's
been probably the biggest Jaden McDaniel supporter. Yeah, and now
the whole city is behind Jaden because he's awesome, and
he works his tail off and he's a little more
understated and he does a lot of the dirty work.
But Jade McDaniel is really really good and he's very
(16:42):
underappreciated across the NBA. So when you have someone like that,
and I remember when we interviewed Anthony for the draft,
he said his favorite moment from his freshman year at
Georgia was one of his teammates hitting a game winner,
not anything that he did. And we believe that, and
we saw that type of approach where he wants to
lift up others, but he's also not obviously not afraid
(17:05):
of the moment and taking it himself, and he's confident
in himself.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
We are chatting with doctor Robbie Sika, founder and CEO
of Sports Medicine Analytics Research Team, who used to course
have a major medical responsibilities player health responsibilities with the
Timberwolves as the vice president in that area in particular,
I'm hoping you can help us have a better understanding
(17:29):
regarding the relationship between the calf injury and the Achilles
because we now live in a world where the minute
we hear anything about a calf injury, oh my god,
we're thinking, well, that's the next thing right around the
corner is Achilles. And it's come up again as recently
as this week with Io desumu right, who missed, who
(17:49):
sat for Game six against Denver, not available for Game
one against San Antonio is expected back tonight. I'm assuming
you would tell me not all calf injuries are equal.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
But what is it?
Speaker 2 (18:02):
What have we learned about the relationship between one and
the other. And then, in this situation beyond the player,
how does the team and the medical people evaluate that
was too soon for him to come back, but now
it's okay. Is it a matter of how well he's
moving or is it that ongoing concern about one thing
(18:23):
leading to the cataclysmic Achilles injury?
Speaker 5 (18:27):
You know, when I was there, we hired jabbarja Lf,
who oversees sports science and kind of all the player tracking,
and he does a great job. He came from Houston
of tracking players and understanding every single movement, how fast
they move, how quickly they stop and start. All those
things are really really important. But this is something that
again for the listeners out there who are parents, I
(18:48):
want you guys to think about. We are seeing a
rise in achilles injuries, not just in basketball, but in
football and baseball across all major sports, and we're seeing
more soft tissue injuries in general. A lot of this
is related to the explosiveness of athletes. Everybody throws one
hundred plus miles an hour in baseball, right, everybody is
(19:08):
faster than ever. How many four sub four or four
guys do we have in the NFL that are d
linemen that we never had before. So we have players
who are faster than ever, jump higher, more explosive across
the board. We also have a society myself included, that
sleepless that are on our phones constantly that don't rest
(19:31):
and recover. Expecting an athlete to be more explosive than
ever and not take more recovery time and rest more.
It's kind of an insane theory. And basketball is now
stop and start, there's really no cutting. You see very
few acls in basketball now. You see far more hamstring
(19:52):
casts achilles because it's a stop and startleet get to
the rim, pull up for three. And what we're going
to have to do now is start to figure out
how we can prevent some of these injuries and get
better at reh having them so athletes can come back faster.
There's certainly a relationship between cast strains and achilles injuries.
There's certainly a relationship between ankle sprains and achilles injuries.
(20:15):
All these injuries have some relationship. And what one of
the challenges is when we have youth athletes that are
broken down from early sports specialization. Many of the things
that we do to force an athlete to play six,
you know, basketball games on a Saturday, why are we
doing that in AAU basketball and then you're expected to
play again on Sunday. That's not real life like that.
(20:38):
That's insane to do that to young athletes. So as
a society we have to ask these questions because nobody sleeps,
nobody recovers. And again, for the listeners out there, I
will say that one of the really unique things about
AMPI universe that hasn't been out there is he really
values sleep. That guy takes care of making sure that
he gets good sleep every night. And I really respect
(21:00):
that about him because he blocks off everything to make
sure that he sleeps.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
As you well know, this team, for a number of
years organizationally seem to have been one of the teams
that rejected in general, the whole concept of quote unquote
load management, and that can mean a lot of things
with a lot of different people. I've lauded that, notwithstanding
(21:25):
some of the things you're talking to us about the
reality of injuries and coming back too soon and all
those sorts of things. How involved were you with the
fact that this team seemed to reject a notion that
grew to such a level in the league that obviously
there are even you know, some rules changes made in
terms of winning postseason awards that we want to encourage
(21:47):
players to play more than they're playing, get sixty five
games at minimum. Where were you and all of that
discussion on load management.
Speaker 5 (21:54):
You know, I think that we put a pejorative sort
of sense of you know, on a turnlke world management.
Ultimately we should be doing his personalize and care across
the board. I don't think it's fair to tie compensation
to how many games you played, particularly for someone like Anthony,
who came back early from just about every injury that
he's had ever in his career. Kid's a warrior. Kid
(22:17):
does everything he can to be out there. He does
every single thing in terms of his recovery and training
and testing to be out there. But what we have
to recognize is that he's a unique athlete. He's different.
And expecting, for example, a thirty two year old player
(22:38):
to play sixty five games versus a twenty two year
old player, how is that fair? Because the average thirty
two year old player misses how many games due to
injury versus a twenty two year old So these standards
then become something that you just put something out there,
and it's not necessarily apples to apples. Anthony worked his tailoff,
had super rare injuries this year, and he was able
(23:02):
to come back faster than anyone else from all of
those injuries. So I think he deserves a lot of credit.
The rehab team deserves a lot of credit. The physical
therapy is the physical therapists and strength coaches who work
with him to keep him safe when he does return.
Deserve a lot of credit, and I think that the
team values helped because I know from all of the
(23:23):
statistics that we would look at games loss due to
injury injury risk. They do a great job they're of
taking care of players. It's also now you're in the
playoffs and the intensity is just a completely different ballgame,
which I'm sure everybody who's watching the games can can
speak to. These are super intense, super physical basketball games.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Last question for today, I appreciate the time. Do you
expect I don't know, guards you can tell me if
there's been any kind of update. I'm curious to know
what your feeling is. You may know, because you still
got a lot of good connections and sources that it's
likely that it's another one of the those games where
maybe Anthony they do try to keep him on a
(24:03):
minute restriction, and kind of what goes into the decision
of ratcheting it up from the you know, the the
initial plan.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
What do you expect tonight?
Speaker 5 (24:12):
You know, typically what you see is an increase of
four to six minutes per game. We know that he's
been stopping start since March, so expecting more what you're
hoping is that you know, you can get to a
situation where he can give you the crunch time minutes
that he gave you. Yeah, and he feels better and
he's able to deliver there. What worried me watching the
(24:33):
last game was what happens when you get to overtime? Right,
because if that game had gone to overtime, then you
start worrying, Hey, he is setting in. How do you
how do you then best manage it? So I would
expect a four to six minute increase. I would say that,
you know, when you look at all of the different factors,
the important thing is that you're protecting him and you're
keeping him safe, and you're you're making sure that he
(24:53):
can get into the playoff rhythm that he needs to
to perform at the peak level that the team needs.
I thought he felt out the game in game one,
he felt where his teammates were. He tried to get
them going. He didn't take shots early. I think you're
gonna see he's feeling good. Uh, you know through our
text messaging and everything. Uh, he had that. Iye after
(25:15):
the game. I think he's I think he's gonna play
really well tonight. I think Uh, the fans can get
excited about, uh, this team continuing to offend and play great.
And you know, I'm even optimistic about a wild win too,
because I think, uh, it's gonna be it's gonna be
a fun, fun spring here in Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
It's been. Yeah, it's already more fun than usual because
they're both in it, you know, which is historic. Have
you ever had a player attempt purposefully to flunk a
physical that you were giving them?
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Do you know?
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Do you know that's you know that the historical president
for that in Timberwolves.
Speaker 5 (25:49):
History, Uh, MARCELLA Webster.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
Well, that's a good one. I didn't.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
That might be another one, the one age one. That's
a that's a new age one. The original that I
remember was when when the Wolves traded Christian Latner. It
was to Atlanta, I think, and they got. The key
to the deal was they wanted a big man and
Atlanta had kind of a defensive center named Andrew lang
Is nicknamed I remember Brussher. And as the story goes,
(26:17):
lang did not want to be here. He was not
happy about it. He was devastated, and as the story goes,
according to some of my sources, he started bringing up
afflictions that you know, the wolves didn't even know he
might have had because he was trying so hard to
flunk the physical I just thought it's an interesting footnote
in Minnesota timberwolves lore.
Speaker 5 (26:39):
Look, there's a ton of funny footnotes in timberwolves lore.
We've been through a lot as wolves fans. But you know,
there's a thirty for thirty that's missing out there is
and Dan, you're you're kind of the wolf's his story
and you guys have done a great job of, you know,
putting all that together. Maybe that's something we need to
get Johnny Kay and a few others in a room, yes,
(27:02):
and we can talk through it. It's a thirty for
thirty that we should do for our own town.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Well, maybe if the club or win the club wins
a title, that's it. Then you can really dig deep
and maybe people will even be more honest because at
that point, statute of limitations is off on all the
bad stuff because they're no longer bad, you know what
I'm saying. Now, they're championship caliber. Because it does feel
like a different era, does it not. It's so contrary
(27:28):
to what once existed. Is you probably know pretty well
and guards. He grew up with it too. It's almost
astonishing some of the stuff that Wolves fans and the
organization endured back in the day compared to what it
is now. You know, a legitimate, stable, adult, well run organization.
Speaker 5 (27:48):
They didn't win a playoff series until I was twenty
two years old, twenty three years old, think about it.
So you know, my seven year old yas she certainly
has seen many playoff games at this point and see wins.
So don't get you know, don't take it for granted.
Appreciate this, and for the fans out there, appreciate the
(28:11):
athlete that Anthony is because again, he is a special
individual who wants to bring a championship here. It should
be really fun for us to enjoy this. He loves Minnesota,
he loves this community. This is you know, I grew
up here. We love when people love us. That's a
Minnesota thing, right, yes, no question. So this should be
(28:31):
fun for us because we've got someone who really wants
to do it right for us.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Enjoy tonight's game. Thanks for the extended conversations. Good to
get good to get caught up, and I'm glad you're
doing well.
Speaker 5 (28:43):
Likewise, guys, thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Absolutely, thank you, Doctor Robbie Sika, formerly vice president of
player Health and Operations for the Minnesota Timberwolves, now Big
Shot Founder and CEO of Sports Medicine Analytics Research Team.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
That is a mouthful. Thank God.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
We don't have business cards anymore because I don't think
the cards are big enough to include that entire title.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
Playoff Basketball is seating up.
Speaker 4 (29:07):
Carboni's Pizzeria wants to fuel your game.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
To watch party tonight.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
Stop by one of thirty plus locations score delicious Pizza.
Get ready for the playoff grind Order today at carbonispizza
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Speaker 3 (29:21):
Seal of Approval coming up next segment.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Don't forget We've got Russo Radio Top of the Hour
at Kessler yet to come as well. The most unique
excuse I think I might have ever heard offered up
by a player attempting to explain the challenges of guarding
(29:48):
another player.
Speaker 3 (29:49):
Have you heard about this one? I don't think I have.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
You're familiar with Jalen Bronson, Yes, outstanding score for the
New York Knicks, who've been on fire yep ever since
they discovered they Karl Anthony Towns on the team to
run a lot of their offense through him, rather than
just Brunson bouncing the ball, bouncing the ball, bouncing the ball.
Speaker 4 (30:07):
Do we think Jayden will guard Brunson or kat in
the finals? Nice the angles right themselves if those two
teams meet. Wondering are you familiar with a Philadelphia seventy
six er named Kelly Ubray Junior?
Speaker 6 (30:21):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (30:22):
After game one in which I think Jalen did he
have over forty?
Speaker 3 (30:27):
He had over thirty, He got over thirty, for sure,
they were coaching. For sure. They won by like fifty.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Ubra was asked about the challenges of guarding Jalen Brunson. Obviously,
he has a big head, so it's definitely tough to
guard him with his head and all that. Yeah, I mean,
he can whip me all he wants with his braids,
but you're not getting free like that. So so he
(30:55):
mentions the size of his cranium a couple times, and
then he says beyond that the yeah, he's viewing I
guess as an extension of the head. But I guess
I'd never really thought about the size of Jalen Brunson's
head being one of his greatest scoring assets.
Speaker 4 (31:11):
Now it's all I'm gonna see how good is that.
I'd never thought about the braids. The only time I
ever thought about hair coming into play was when like
an NFL player would have the braids coming out of
the back of the helmet. You could like pull them
from behind to try to tackle. I never thought of
them as a stiff farm. And here's the thing, though,
(31:33):
here's what's weird. I can make the argument that Oubre's
hair is longer. It's not in braids, but is longer
than Brunson's. He does have a little bit of float
up he's got.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Yeah, he's got two colors, black on one side and almost
like a red dark red on the other.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Yeah, So there is the big head defense. What do
you want me to do? It's got a big cranium
and it's just kid. It's difficult to guard some but
he with a big cranium like that? How good is that?
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Sounds like the third It does hundred percent true. I'll
give you the short version now of the latest anonymous athletic,
in this case basketball poll of players.
Speaker 4 (32:17):
Right, and I did not look, even though I was
tempted when you told me about this.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
They in this case, I think they they convinced one
hundred and sixty one players to participate in this anonymous
poll in various categories underrated, overrated coaches, et cetera. That's
about I think half in the league. That's a pretty
good I think it's the most they've ever had. And
you're allowed to take your make you know, do your
votes anonymously for all the obvious reasons. There's several categories
(32:49):
worthy of discussion. I will just get to one, maybe two,
maybe three Best defensive player. Who do you think won it?
Speaker 3 (33:03):
Wemby?
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Wemby wins it at forty one percent, which is about
to be expected.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
Yep, you care to even with the goaltends, even with
the goaltends. We'll get to that during the seal of approval.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
You want to take a guess on what where Rudy
ranks Wemby is won? Where is Rudy Gobert according to
this anonymous player's poll best Defensive Player in Basketball?
Speaker 3 (33:29):
How many players are listed in the poll? I think like.
Speaker 4 (33:34):
Maybe even twenty five. I think twenty I'm going to say,
I'm going to say he's like nineteen or not even
on there.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
Fifteenth.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Yeah, I kind of I think I kind of alerted
you to where it was going. Yeah, Wemby had forty
one percent. Rudy Gobert finished fifteenth at two point zero percent.
Speaker 4 (33:56):
How about most overrated player? Yeah, we need to get
to the basketball We need to get back to these
the most overrated basketball player in basketball. You'll never guess
who won it. I didn't guess it, but maybe you can't.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
Most over the.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Overrated single basketball player in basketball. And it was a
pretty dominant performance, not as dominant as Wemby.
Speaker 4 (34:18):
What conference? West Chat, No, that's just me Shengoon?
Speaker 3 (34:25):
Oh that would have been my guest. Seriously.
Speaker 4 (34:27):
Oh, I've been on that for two years. He is
I don't get it, and he did not have a
good playoffs and now his trade value to get a
Yannis trade is nothing.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Right, but behind Sangoon as the most overrated player, not
in the Western Conference but in the NBA, Rudy Gobert.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
It's all become kind of a comedy. It's kind of
become farce. And he's in second place at eight point
six percent.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
Most.
Speaker 4 (34:55):
I'd love to know how many of these players are
still playing, by the way, well, like the best defenders,
like all of that, probably not as many.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
There's a couple other categories we'll get to.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Let's stay on schedule, Let's get to the bumper to
bumper seal of approval, Kessler yet to come. Russo Radio
Top of the Hour. Are the Minnesota Wild in decent trouble?
Are they in horrific trouble?
Speaker 3 (35:18):
Is it over? Is it? Is it fixable?
Speaker 2 (35:22):
And who starts in the net when the series resumes
in Minnesota Saturday night.
Speaker 3 (35:28):
All that with Russo coming up in about I don't
know twenty minutes.
Speaker 4 (35:33):
Women's soccer when Minnesota Aurora returns for their home opener
on May twenty first, seven pm at TCO Stadium in Egan.
Tickets for all games on sale now at Mnaurora dot com.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
Most impressive coach beside your own, according to the anonymous
NBA Players Poll, one hundred and sixty one plays pulled
by the athletic most impressive coach besides your own? Any
predictions on who won it? Tag a stab at it,
(36:13):
Dagna close? I think he was two or three. Missoula, Yeah,
finished first, people like Joe Finchy does not show up
on the pole at all.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
That's fine. As much as we like to be is
not mentioned on this poll.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
Perhaps perhaps because I know he listens to the show
and podcasts it a lot, we can make him feel
a little bit better by issuing him.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
It's the buffer to bumper seal of approval.
Speaker 3 (36:47):
Anybody listens to.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
This show knows generally my position on referee whining is
pretty negative, but I will grant one exception, especially after victory.
But it doesn't always have to be after victory. When
(37:08):
you offer up a series of comments that has long
time NBA media observers like Michael Wilbon linking Finshy to
the all time refbating greats, including Pat Riley and Phil Jackson,
(37:34):
the zen Master, you deserve and get and should receive
the bumper bumper seal of approval.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
Will Bond was gushing about him. That was yeah, That's
what I was just saying. Yeah. The part that I
like is I do I do create a.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Distinction generally between players and coaches. And I've always felt
there's a piece of this that is a part of
a smart coach's job, and it's an art that you
can't abuse.
Speaker 3 (38:07):
You can't go to the well.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
Every fifteen minutes, but you can occasionally put an idea
into the minds of everybody, including the referees involved in
the next game, when you muse the way he mused,
almost saying it matter of factly, not pounding his fist,
that Wemby should have been called for goaltending like eight, nine,
(38:31):
ten or eleven times. Now he exaggerated it. It's not
that many. I think there were two, for sure. I
might be convinced on a third. But doesn't matter if
you're the coach and you're trying to plant a seed
allah the masters in the postseason pat Riley and most
(38:52):
assuredly how many times did philed?
Speaker 3 (38:54):
Just how often did Big Chief Triangle do it?
Speaker 2 (38:57):
And often, I think with some effectiveness, And so anything
you can do to link yourselves to those Master NBA
playoff psychologists on the coaching sidelines, that's a big win.
And the bonus is you did it after a victory. Yes,
now they didn't always do it after a victory, because
(39:18):
occasionally be after a loss. But I do think, as
I said earlier, it has even greater strength after a
victory and you got nothing to lose.
Speaker 3 (39:26):
It's not like the.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
Kind of thing that well, Wemby's going to be really annoyed.
And now he's going to block twenty five shots, right,
which people said, did they really?
Speaker 3 (39:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (39:33):
I don't, Yeah, I don't. I think he's blocking as many.
He'll block as many as he can, regardless of what
he says. But then you put it in the refs
head a little bit. Who knows that they might not
have any impact on I'm not saying it's going to
tilt the balance of the series, but I most assuredly
thought it was very well played, smartly played, and the
key to it is the matter of fact way he
(39:56):
delivered it. Yes, I thought it was not because he
wasn't screaming. He just laying it out, oh, you know,
in a very matter of fact fashion. So we already
kind of gave in the steel approval yesterday for the
way he handled Anthony's minutes restriction for Game one.
Speaker 3 (40:12):
I thought that was masterful.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
Although Robbie Asika, Doctor Robbie Sika brought up a good point.
You know, that's the X The X factor is on
these minute restrictions is what if the game goes into
OT it's a little scary and then it gets a
little bit funky. Do you actually have the cajones to
pull him out of an overtime game in the Western
Conference semifinals.
Speaker 3 (40:31):
Who's to say? Who knows?
Speaker 2 (40:32):
We have not yet had any word. Have we on
whether he will start tonight? It sounds like Robbie expects
the minutes to go up five, yes.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
Six, Yeah, would you aage out to five? Yes?
Speaker 2 (40:45):
So, But we have not heard anything officially yet. Have
we on starting lineup tonight?
Speaker 4 (40:50):
No, that's typically posted hour and a half hour before
the game.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
So do you start the same lineup if he doesn't start,
you start the same lineup you did in game one?
Speaker 3 (41:00):
Or do you start to Suomo?
Speaker 2 (41:02):
I would think by the same logic, they'll probably say,
you know what, this isn't too bad. We'll bring Anthony
Edwards and and and and Io de Sumo off the
bench and that I love it.
Speaker 4 (41:11):
Yes, And it's also that then you can get your
Mike Conley minutes in there too. And he's a guy
who started for eighteen years. I know this year he
came out the bench and his role was nothing after
he came back here after being traded. Yes, yeah, right,
But my point is that's the whole like, that's where
he's come to. Yes, that's true, and I'm guessing it's
like riding the bike for him to go out there,
(41:33):
and obviously they're gonna hunt him. Obviously he's gonna give
up some things defensively, but having Io come in against
their second unit, I like that too.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
I like that as well.
Speaker 4 (41:43):
The other thing I liked about Finchy was gave Johnny
athletic great camera time he did in his athletic hat,
which we still don't have even though we have multiple
that one forget it, and asking Johnny, uh, Johnny big
Wallet if he would take a thirty three percent ray,
I mean that's would you take a thirty three percent raise?
(42:05):
And Johnny said, hoo hoo, boy, I would So I
like that too. Good Sports Center and first take time
for Johnny. Well, we'll wait until we'll get a little
more into the poll at we'll have a short segment after. Well,
actually no, we might go along on Russo.
Speaker 3 (42:21):
Yeah, we'll probably go right to Kesseler. Why don't we
do this? Why don't we?
Speaker 2 (42:24):
Can you get ready the Kendrick Perkins sound I sent you.
I think that's about two and a half minutes? Is
it maybe that or is it three? Because okay, good,
even better, it's it's not that long then If you're
a Wolves fan, I'm assuming you're gonna love what Kendrick
Perkins had to say. Maybe you've already heard it. If
you haven't, you need to hear it. The question is
(42:45):
whether you are terrified by it, because in effect, he's
going on the basis of one game, at least in
this series, from utter and total belief in one team
to utter and total I guess you could say coronation
of a champion of the other team. Let's listen to
this is a thing from yesterday. I'm not mistaken Kendrick
(43:07):
Perkins on Wolves Spurs.
Speaker 6 (43:09):
It was the player Anthony Hillwards. And by the way,
then me start off by telling him thank you, as
a former player, thank you, because this is what we've
been missing, this is what we've been wanting. The bar
has been set. This man is out here playing on
two hurt knees and told the doctors, I ain't hear
(43:30):
what y'all trying to talk about. I'm going out here
and I'm going hoop and push the line for his squad.
And so when you think about what he done going
out there, he came in off the bench, he was
he was efficient, he was effective, He played with passion,
and I'm gonna say this. I know I picked the
San Antonio Spurs to win the championship, and I'm gonna
(43:52):
say right now that I was wrong. I was wrong,
and I'm gonna take all the heat that comes with
it because they're not going to win this series. They're
not going to win this series. I know when the
team has that it factor. The Minnesota Timberwolves, they got
that it factor.
Speaker 3 (44:11):
Those guys are on.
Speaker 6 (44:12):
I used to call the Miami Heat when they had
Jimmy Butler and Bam and they made their final run.
The goons from Day County, Well, these are the goons
from Minnesota because they want all the smoke. I don't
care if it's chimney smoke, cigarette smoke, or barbecue smoke.
They are running to it. They're playing with a certain
type of edge, They're playing with a certain type of tenacity.
(44:35):
They have a certain type of spirit that's going on
through that locker room, and that damn Jade McDaniels. We
have a lot of great and good wing defenders around
the league, but he is the best wing defender in
the game. Here's here's where it's gonna come down to.
And this is why I'm jumping off the porch right now.
(44:55):
Y'all can give me all the heat that y'all want.
But the guards of the Senate it's Onnio Spurs, Steph Oncast,
and dianon Fox. They are going to struggle tremendously in
this series because these guys, the wings and the guard play,
and the defenders that the Minnesota Timberwolves have, especially Jay McDaniels.
Speaker 7 (45:16):
They're not backing down, by the way, for the record,
But by the way, first, I guess I should ask
does that inspire you, arouse you, or terrify you?
Speaker 4 (45:26):
Well, this is where playoff experience comes in because I
remember two years ago after the Wolves knocked off Denver
in Game two, the Doberman Defense game, the heat Pack game,
and Steven A came on the.
Speaker 3 (45:39):
Next day and said, yes, that's true.
Speaker 4 (45:41):
I believe that the Timberwolves are going to win the
NBA Championship, and I allow that to excite me. But
I also know how things can turn out, so it
doesn't terrify me because of the playoff experience. I'm mostly
enjoying the ride, like Robbie Sieka told us to, so
it doesn't terrify me.
Speaker 3 (45:58):
It does excite me, though, the.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
League's best defensive player, according to the anonymous Paul we
mentioned when Banyana when Banyama easily first at forty one percent.
A former Minnesota Timberwolf draft choice is number two in votes,
tied with Kawhi Leonard. His name is Chris don I
(46:20):
was going to say it's got to be done right Clippers.
Then Scottie Barnes four percent, along with also at four
percent Jaden, McDaniels, and Wallace and Thompson a couple of
others most underrated player. Jaden finished in fourteenth place, below
(46:41):
Chris Dunn and a few percentage points ahead of nas Reed.
Speaker 3 (46:46):
Who also got a few votes.
Speaker 2 (46:48):
Hockey is next, Russo Radio, you have questions for him.
Six four six eighty six. That's the Bradshaw on Bryant
k FA n Tech
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