The ever-popular basketball triumvirate featuring Fan 590′s Zack Cooper, The Score’s Leigh Ellis and HOOPSADDICT.com’s Ryan McNeill assembles to talk about the Raptors’ issues this season, the NBA in general, who the best shot-blocking small forward in the NBA is right now, and filling out the All-Star reserves.

To say DeMar DeRozan’s season has been a roller coaster would be an understatement. He started the year making lists as players showing early progress, only be on the same writer’s list last week as a player who is failing to live up to expectations.
It’s exactly this kind of contradiction that is causing Raptors’ fans [...]

DeMar DeRozan chatted with the media about his recent shooting slump, the confidence Dwane Casey has given him, chatting with his old high school coach, and a host of other topics.

With Ed Davis playing well over this last five games – 8.6 rebounds and two double-doubles – it’s created a situation where Raptors head coach Dwane Casey needs to find ways for this talented big man to average more than the 24.5 minutes per game he has been averaging this season. The problem is that Davis’ natural position, power forward, is being occupied by Toronto’s best player in Andrea Bargnani.

Dwane Casey chatted with the media tonight about shifting Andrea Bargnani to small forward for stretches to free up more minutes for Ed Davis, what DeMar DeRozan needs to do in order to snap out of his recent funk, the challenges in stopping John Wall in transition and a host of other topics.

Randy Wittman chatted with the media about the strong play from his rookies, John Wall’s up and down season, Rashard Lewis’ veteran leadership and a host of other topics.

Roger Mason Jr. chatted with me about how long he has been a Christian, how his faith helps him navigate through tough things in life, Tim Tebow and how he deals with the challenges and temptations that an NBA player faces.

Larry Drew chatted with the media this week about his team rallying after the loss of Al Horford, the improvement of Jeff Teague this season, the strong play of Joe Johnson, Marvin Williams becoming one of the top three-point shooters in the NBA this season and a host of other topics.

Josh Smith chatted with HOOPSADDICT.com about how the team has been able to regroup after the loss of Al Horford due to an injury, not being worried about his own stats and how Marvin Williams’ outside shooting has open up the offense for the entire team.
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

When news got out a couple weeks back that the Atlanta Hawks would be without All-Star big man Al Horford for the remainder of the season due to an injury, countless members of the media and fans thought that would be the end of their season. Somebody forgot to give the Hawks this message as they are 9-2 in their past 11 games and they find themselves half a game back of the Miami Heat in the Southeast Division.