Hello and Welcome

Will and guest Samson Folk recap Toronto’s 116-112 win over the Brooklyn Nets in their final game of pre-season and discusses: Scottie Barnes' physical dominance, Gradey Dick's improved confidence and Ochai Agbaji's quiet growth.  Three stars: Scottie Barnes, Jakob Poeltl, Jamal Shead MIG aka Most Important Guy: Jamal Shead Reach out to the show by leaving a voicemail at hellowelcome.show or...

Will and Alex are joined by theScore’s Joseph Casciaro to draft the most important guys for the 2024-25 NBA season. They chat about Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby’s impact on the Knicks this season, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s MVP odds, Paul George’s new role in Philadelphia, what’s next for Jamal Murray and Dame Lillard, a potential Jimmy Butler revenge season, and also discussions about the Cli...

Will and Alex review the over/under win total for every team in the Western Conference and discuss: whether the Thunder are going to be the best team in the league, if the Wolves took a step back after the KAT trade, the preseason hype around the Grizzlies, if the Clippers are going to take a massive step back this season, what to make of Victor Wembanyama’s second season, and more. Reach out to t...

Will recaps Toronto’s 119-118 win over the Boston Celtics in their fourth game of pre-season and discusses: Scottie Barnes dominance, Gradey Dick's exploding for 27 points, and who the Raptors should keep for 15th roster spot. Three stars: Scottie Barnes, Gradey Dick, Jakob Poeltl Gerald Henderson award: JD Davidson MIG aka Most Important Guy: Branden Carlson Reach out to the show by leaving a voi...

Will and Alex review the over/under win totals for every team in the Eastern Conference and discuss: whether they believe in the Knicks as a contender, if the Pacers are being overlooked, whether Heat Culture is still a thing, if the Raptors will try to win every single game this season, and more Reach out to the show by leaving a voicemail at hellowelcome.show or email the guys info@hellowelcome....

Will recaps Toronto’s 115-111 loss to the Boston Celtics in their third game of pre-season and discusses: Scottie Barnes' quiet night, Gradey Dick's defensive weaknesses and Jonathan Mogbo's unique game. Three stars: Jonathan Mogbo, Gradey Dick, Jamal Shead MIG aka Most Important Guy: Ochai Agbaji Reach out to the show by leaving a voicemail at hellowelcome.show or email the guys info@hellowelcome...

Will recaps Toronto’s 113-92 loss over the Washington Wizards in their second game of pre-season and discusses: Scottie Barnes' debut, Jamal Shead and Davion Mitchell's defense and thoughts on, Jonathan Mogbo, Ulrich Chomche. Three stars: Chris Boucher, Scottie Barnes, Jakob Poeltl MIG aka Most Important Guy: Jamal Shead Reach out to the show by leaving a voicemail at hellowelcome.show or email th...

Will goes solo and creates the Raptors' rotation. He makes the case for why Gradey Dick is favored to start, while also considering Ochai Agbaji's fit. Then, he breaks down the battle at backup point guard and if Chris Boucher has a chance to get minutes. Reach out to the show by leaving a voicemail at hellowelcome.show or email the guys info@hellowelcome.show Check out our merch! Visit hellowelco...

Ahead of Vince Carter’s Hall of Fame induction this weekend, Will and Alex are joined by Vivek Jacob to walk through his career in Toronto as they discuss: his cultural impact, favorite dunks, his final days with the Raptors, and more. Reach out to the show by leaving a voicemail at hellowelcome.show or email the guys info@hellowelcome.show Check out our merch! Visit hellowelcome.show and click on...

Will and Alex are joined by Keerthika Uthayakumar as she shares 10 fun Raptors fun stats including: their strength of schedule to open the season, Scottie Barnes triple-double watch, competitive losses, number of starting lineups, the potential return of the bench mob, and more. Reach out to the show by leaving a voicemail at hellowelcome.show or email the guys info@hellowelcome.show Check out our...

Will recaps Toronto’s 125-98 win over the Washington Wizards to open their pre-season schedule and discusses: Jamal Shead’s impressive performance, RJ Barrett’s strong start, and thoughts on Davion Mitchell, Jonathan Mogbo, Ulrich Chomche. Three stars: RJ Barrett, Jamal Shead, Kelly Olynyk MIG aka Most Important Guy: Nishay Seth (He gave us $5) Leave your question in the chat! Reach out to the sho...

Will recaps the Toronto Raptors' annual open practice at McGill University. Takeaways include Gradey Dick and Ochai Agbaji making their cases to start, RJ Barrett and Kelly Olynyk as the best players in the run, and a look at Raptors rookies Ulrich Chomche and Jonathan Mogbo. Three stars: Kelly Olynyk, RJ Barrett, Ochai Agbaji Most Important Guy aka MIG: Gradey Dick Reach out to the show by leavin...

Will and Alex are joined by Matt Devlin to chat about: taking an optimistic view on the Raptors, his career journey, behind-the-scenes of his iconic Game 6 championship on-air call, new Raptors nicknames, and much more. Reach out to the show by leaving a voicemail at hellowelcome.show or email the guys info@hellowelcome.show Check out our merch! Visit hellowelcome.show and click on the merch link....

We’re live from Montreal! Will and Alex discuss highlights from the first day of Raptors training camp including Scottie’s absence, Garrett Temple’s new hobby, and Jakob Poeltl’s comments from media day. Later, the two chat about whether LeBron and Bronny should go to work together, if the Clippers and Bucks are in trouble, and what Victor Wembanyama has to average to win MVP this season. Reach ou...

Will and Alex chat about Masai’s comments on rebuilding at Raptors media day, Scottie taking on a new leadership role, and what Darko expects from the roster in Year 2. Later, Will and Alex discuss Vince Carter’s appearance in Toronto on Friday and Karl-Anthony Towns being traded to the Knicks. Reach out to the show by leaving a voicemail at hellowelcome.show or email the guys info@hellowelcome.sh...

One week away from the start of training camp, Will and Alex discuss Vince Carter’s retirement ceremony in November, the city edition jerseys, Bruce Brown’s injury, Christian Koloko signing with the Lakers, Rogers taking over the Raptors, Woj’s retirement, and more. Reach out to the show by leaving a voicemail at hellowelcome.show or email the guys info@hellowelcome.show Check out our merch! Visit...

Will, Alex, and Jerome share their respective 15-song playlist for the summer and chat about their evolving music tastes, how they’re still finding ways to discover new artists, Will’s love for Dead Prez, and more. Listen to the playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3B6qDFMAAsIdKViKC1gEvh?si=4bc822068bd94926 #playlist #music #summermusic #chappellroan #newjeans #oasis #mamushi Reach out...

Will and Alex sort all 30 teams into their respective tiers and discuss what might derail Boston’s chances at a repeat, who should be the favorite in the West heading into the season, whether the Mavericks’ Finals run was a fluke, the Grizzlies and Pacers as potential surprise teams, what’s going on with the Clippers and Heat, which rebuilding team has the best young core moving forward, and more....

Welcome to the official end of the summer. We’re less than 50 days from the start of the regular season and Will is ready for the Raptors season to start. On this episode, Will sits down with Alex and proposes 10 reasons to be excited for the upcoming season. They discuss Scottie’s All-NBA case, rookies most likely to break out, 30th anniversary plans, and more. A Raptors and NBA podcast hosted by...

Will, Alex, and Jerome answer questions about biggest player leaps on the Raptors roster, niche former players appearing for 30th anniversary celebrations, best pregame fits, most memorable Raptors games, what it means to have generational talent, and share emails from listeners on their fandom. Later, they chat about: tattoo ideas, generational wealth, Letterboxd, if podcasting is cool, favorite...

Will and Alex review the Raptors’ 2024-25 schedule and predict the results of all 82 games (spoiler: they go pretty far in the Emirates NBA Cup tournament). Later, they chat about how fans are going to approach watching a basketball team go through a re-tooling process.  Reach out to the show by leaving a voicemail at hellowelcome.show or email the guys info@hellowelcome.show Check out our me...

Will and Alex wrap up their Olympic coverage with Lindsay Dunn, as she shares her favorite memories from Paris her run-in with friend of the program Yuta Watanabe, where Team Canada’s basketball programs go from here, and much more. Later, Will, Alex, and Lindsay chat about Guerschon Yabusele’s surprise run, the legacy of LeBron/Steph/KD, Jayson Tatum’s benching, and their favorite sports to watch...

Will is joined by Oren and Libaan to recap Team Canada’s senior men’s basketball team’s run at the 2024 Summer Olympics and discuss: whether their quarterfinals loss to France was more of a disappointment or failure, Jamal Murray’s struggles, whether the team needs a second option next to Shai, potential prospects who might solve their big man problem, if Team Canada should look into naturalizing...

Will and Alex recaps Canada’s 82-73 loss to France in the quarterfinals and take questions from the live audience at their Annex Hotel watch party.  Three stars: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, RJ Barrett, Khem Birch/ the Annex Hotel watch party fans.  Gerald Henderson award: Mathias Lessort/ Guershon Yabusele  Reach out to the show by leaving a voicemail at hellowelcome.show or email the...

Will recaps Canada’s 88-85 win over Spain to finish 3-0 in group play.    Three stars: Andrew Nembhard, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, RJ Barrett  Gerald Henderson award: Dario Brizuela Reach out to the show by leaving a voicemail at hellowelcome.show or email the guys info@hellowelcome.show Check out our merch! Visit hellowelcome.show and click on the merch link. Original Music by DIVISI...