- 7 minutes ago
Brian Dameris joined The K&C Masterpiece to preview the Mavs season. Dameris discussed Mavs/Rockets season opener, expectations for Kyrie Irving, roster depth, and more.
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00:00and brian damaris good afternoon sir and happy season opener yeah hello from houston excited to
00:07uh finally have the first ranger season game right here on the fan tonight man i love i love
00:13hearing that what what do you feel like is the buzz around this team because it feels like there's a
00:19big disconnect between locally and nationally nationally not a lot of expectations on this
00:24team but locally it does feel like there is legitimate hype for this mavs team well i think
00:30there's just excitement that you know a lot of the mess of the last year and a half we're kind
00:34of
00:34past that and it's a it's a clean slate it's a new front office new coaching staff uh you've got
00:40you
00:41know nine new players out of your 15 regular standard contracts uh the team got younger uh the team is
00:48longer uh you've got cooper coming in still at 19 uh what he could add to that rookie of the
00:54year
00:55campaign uh and and the step he can take kyrie returning a better team around them so uh i think
01:02that that kind of lends to all that excitement did you know he had another growth spurt left in his
01:06life well yeah he's 19 of course he does i mean look at look at when dirt came in the
01:12league and how
01:13skinny he was and kevin durant and these guys just the natural progression of a teenage body into a
01:19a man you're going to get some of that whether it's height or or even just more importantly kind
01:24of just the size so when he's banging inside he's not getting knocked off his spot he's knocking other
01:28people off their spot yeah and i mean he's already got the the the mentality to be capable of playing
01:35in that area you saw it already now he adds the weight to it that's a nice thing we were
01:39talking this
01:40morning a little bit about what more he can do and kevin you said one more three-point shot
01:46and what else was the percentage more three-point attempt per game and up it by about nine percent
01:52do you think those are realistic goals for the season oh i think shooting more is an easy one uh
02:00you know i'd like to give like 35 game league average just okay you know let's let's let's bump it
02:05up but yeah if that three-point shot starts really developing that opens up everything because we
02:11know he can get to the hole we know he's a mid-range assassin and now teams won't be able
02:16to go under
02:17him at all because he can shoot the three effectively then you're a three-level score and and he literally
02:23almost becomes impossible to guard you know we were uh talking with mark follow well i think it was last
02:27week kevin and we were in your co-host on the take that witchy podcast and i asked him at
02:33the very end
02:33like what is it we've had all these these this kind of generation after generation of that you got
02:39the guy what is it about cooper that you see that kind of separates him from the two we've previously
02:44had and also still like attracts this fan base so much yeah you know it's interesting i was talking
02:52to and i mentioned this on the podcast yesterday uh uh an executive from another team a few weeks ago
02:58and it's a team that you know is kind of ready to take that next step and i was like
03:02you guys have a
03:03good season he just looks at me and goes yeah but i don't we don't have your guy and and
03:07everybody's
03:07looking for that guy and we have i mean if you look at the nba general manager poll that came
03:13out last
03:13week they asked who would you what player do you want to build a franchise around right now and
03:19victor wendayama was the overwhelming favorite there are only two other names on that list
03:23one was shea and one was cooper that tells you what the league is thinking of this guy
03:29at 19 in terms of of the value of who he is and so he's got the you know the
03:36work ethic he's got
03:37the body the skill set he reminds me a lot of dirk and he's just a gym rat he just
03:42loves the game he
03:44wants to be in the gym all the time and learn and grow uh he's got the competitiveness of luca
03:49and and just an absolutely you know he's mild-mannered but on the court he's an absolute dog
03:54uh and so you know yeah look we've been through a lot around here but get behind this guy because
04:01you know the league is watching you saw articles from winhorst and on the ringer lately about
04:06you know i know everybody's talking about philly and new york and all that but this guy could have
04:11a year two that frankly if you run the numbers you know is he an all-star this year in
04:18his second
04:18year at age 20 that's that's crazy to think that's why i would get irritated when people were like
04:23if you wouldn't have reclassified what pick would he have been in this draft and i was like what are
04:28you talking about he would have been the number one pick in this draft too he's a generational talent
04:33and and it's a it's a again don't don't ask me ask people around the league they're they're
04:39salivating at this guy they wish that they had him because he's he's that special i mean think about
04:45it he he came off an injury in march where he was down 80 to 20 in the prediction markets
04:50in the
04:50rookie of the year and then went on to to score 96 points in a weekend in two games i
04:55mean what are
04:56we talking about here it's pretty good we're talking with who and that is pretty good we're
05:01talking with brian damaris right here on 105.3 the fan what are your thoughts going into this season
05:06about the depth especially in the front court versus the potential not just cooper but across
05:14the board need for better three-point shooting with this roster yeah i think you have depth
05:21throughout i mean there's 12 guys that legitimately can get on the court at any night and and depth is
05:27going to depth wins you regular season games stars when you playoff games and so they need all that
05:32depth uh there's still some nagging injuries of arabic won't play tonight so you've got guys like
05:37you know some of your two ways like law will be active and you're going to need that to sprinkle
05:42in
05:42some guys may have some minutes restrictions to start with so you need to use some of that
05:46but you know you you say you have depth to the front court but you know you still have uh
05:53you know
05:55lively working back through his injury gafford you know johnson's probably your backup big
06:00musa uh is going to play like third team center minutes um you know and you're always looking for
06:06shooting and and uh that's what this league is but what what you are going to see is this team's
06:11going to put up a lot more threes this team uh shot uh they were 28th in number of three
06:15-point
06:16attempts last year and they were also 28th and how well they made them so they didn't shoot a lot
06:19of them and they didn't make them when they did shoot them and sometimes the math game is just a
06:24math game and and i talked about it over and over last year on the broadcast you know if you're
06:28just
06:29if you're starting a game where you're going to lose the three-point battle by 18 to 21 points
06:34because you just aren't putting up enough then you got to make it up in other areas uh so they've
06:39got
06:39to close that gap by just putting up more shots is that is that mentality like what you've kind of
06:44gathered uh mentality wise from dusty may's brand of ball and like that discussion of what kind of
06:51style he wants to play what have you seen from him yeah they're gonna play fast i mean they won
06:56all
06:56five bodies across the court by 19 on the shot clock so speed at all times throwing it uh throwing
07:03it
07:03up play with pace they were they were top five pace last year if they stayed at that level they
07:08wouldn't be top five the whole league is playing faster they want to put up a lot more threes but
07:12good threes they're not just chucking them they want to penetrate and kick out and and collapse those
07:17defenses and then they want to they're so much longer as a team you know you're talking about
07:22risha shea and johnson and all these guys that are just long and rangy cooper himself and so they
07:29want to get into passing lanes get deflections that turns into to fast break opportunities because
07:34against strong defenses like the rockets are you know you don't want to play in half court all the
07:39time you want to get as many transition opportunities where their defense is kind of haggard does it
07:45matter because i've been thinking about this for a while does it matter whose team quote unquote whose
07:49team this is because there's stories about it's cooper's team now and other people are like well
07:54kyrie is back is that a thing that really matters brian i told i told my co-host here this
07:59morning that
07:59that kyrie wants it to be cooper's team he'd like to just be the consigliere uh the silvio if you
08:06will
08:06from uh from the sopranos but let's see how your thoughts on that well i like that you guys fight
08:12like follow that fight so that's good that's a healthy relationship um but look everything's built
08:19around cooper i mean that's that's the whole mindset that's why this team got younger but as we learned
08:24in the finals last year with san antonio you have to have veteran presence
08:28and veterans don't just mean guys that have played in the league a long time veterans mean
08:32guys that got shiny rings on their fingers and that's what kyrie brings so so it's cooper you
08:37know everything's built around the north star that is cooper flag but kyrie commands so much respect
08:45uh in that room that they they have the he has the mental maturity to to work with cooper and
08:53and
08:53lead it together what have you what are you seeing from kyrie on like the influence that he has he
09:00just seems to bring kind of a calming presence to some of these young guys yeah because he's been
09:05there done that he takes them aside says look for this look for that the work ethic uh you know
09:10all during his rehab he was you know at practices reffing practices encouraging guys when he could
09:16try to get some run in when when when he was you know at 50 or 70 and all that
09:22kind of thing
09:22and these guys look he is beloved around the league you see it every time after a game players from
09:27other teams are coming up and talking to him uh he's he's well respected for what he brings and
09:32and he's still got really good game and you saw a bit of it in the preseason he only played
09:38two of
09:38the games but uh he is absolutely raring to go after a year and a half when he was reffing
09:43those
09:43practices was he getting you know yelled at too for that wasn't a foul kind of stuff
09:47oh they yell at everybody yeah it doesn't matter if it's just a quick scrimmage if that if it's a
09:53call they don't like you you're you hear from them it these guys are so competitive now we've talked a
10:00lot about the team just for selfish purposes for just one second how pumped are you to be on a
10:06sports
10:06radio station oh i i we were just talking about it last night it is great i mean you guys
10:13are a
10:13powerhouse and uh you know i i said this on gbag selfishly i think we have a really good radio
10:20broadcast you know chuck and i have been doing this now for four years and and uh we know each
10:25other's rhythms uh we have fun it's not just the boring x's and o's we you know we like to
10:31joke
10:31around as well and you know you have to be entertaining and informative and and uh you know i i
10:37i'm the only
10:37color analyst in the league that isn't a former player or coach and so i i credit chuck for putting
10:42up
10:42with me but i i do my work and i uh you know follow follow the league and follow this
10:47team closely and
10:48so we're we're we're stoked i i've been so i mean i've obviously listened to chuck for so many years
10:54now i remember in 11 on that run to the championship uh there were so many nights that there he
11:00was right
11:00there in my ears and it's just he has so much volume and so i say volume of of words
11:06to say uh he has
11:07so much that he's trying to describe to you and uh and he has it's like he's got the ball
11:12so much
11:12how how is it finding finding that rhythm with him and getting into those those spots where you are with
11:18him yeah you know it it it took a little bit that kind of half of that first year you
11:25know because the
11:26pace has increased you know during a during play i've got four or five seconds after a play to say
11:32something before that he's got it you know in radio you got to describe what's happening it's a
11:36little different than tv but then he knows like during uh free throws or out of bounds plays or
11:42coming out of timeouts you know he just lets me kind of cook and expand on some thoughts and
11:48uh you know i like to kind of with five minutes to go i like to kind of break down
11:52here's where
11:53you know here's what both teams are thinking right now here's the play to look for and so
11:57we we've developed that rhythm uh pretty effectively at this point yeah that's so much fun it's kevin it's
12:03so important i know you always say this to me is at the end of the show i need to
12:06have just as much
12:07energy as i do yeah uh and that's what i think these two do so well uh they they bring
12:12that energy
12:13whenever it matters the most those last five minutes are important to a game yeah i mean that
12:18that's the that's the most fun is trying to really kind of you know that's why i was just a
12:22shoot
12:23around this morning and we watch practice and i'm watching film because i want to know like
12:27okay this is what they've been working on look for this kind of play here look for uh here's you
12:32know
12:32they're trying to get the ball out of kd's hands and double him and make somebody else beat him and
12:36you know that that's the that's the value add that's why you're listening to to what we're doing
12:41and i i am kind of we've kind of gotten excited about it about him sergio de la rea what
12:47is uh what's
12:47our what's our feeling what are we what do you want to see from this guy yeah he's he is
12:54uh he he's
12:55got luca like passing savant level skills i mean this guy can see the floor he knows where everybody
13:02is supposed to be he can just thread that needle uh he's a good shooter as well from three um
13:10you
13:10know he's he's got to he's got to build that body up as well he's got that 20 year old
13:15body uh it's a
13:16it's a quicker game the players are longer and faster than they are in europe uh and you know they
13:22might
13:22they might go at him on d he's got to hold his own there but uh he's gonna he's gonna
13:27play solid
13:27rotation backup point guard minutes and he's gonna play along kairi a lot too alongside kairi
13:33all right well you heard it from damaris first we've got another luca yeah that's what i just
13:38heard you say we appreciate that man that that's fantastic that is how i choose to interpret what
13:45you've said man thank you very much for the time we look forward to not only hearing you on the
13:50call
13:50tonight but all season long on the fan yeah absolutely and uh yeah check out the podcast
13:57with follow on myself we'll have that uh drops every tuesday good stuff for those hardcore fans