Dino Nation Blog Welcomes Matt Devlin

I decided when Matt Devlin was hired to the Raptors that I would extend my best wishes and invite him to do an interview with me for the blog. Many years ago I did the exact same thing with Chuck Swirsky. Only difference was at that time I was doing Radio and asked Chuck to be a guest. I thought that it would be good to start a relationship with Matt as I did with Chuck and see what happens. Well Matt would get back to me and agreed to talk with me for the Dino Nation Blog. He took time out to reach out to me and Raptor fans by doing this. That said a lot to me about Matt and makes a good impression on me. In fact some of the readers of this blog sent e-mails to Matt and have got responses. Matt was really shocked I think to a point of how much Raptor fans care and have an interest in the team and him. He thinks it is fantastic and is really thrilled to be in a city that has so much passion for the team he will be covering. He noted in his blog how Raptor fans would not let a transit strike get in the way of supporting the Raptors. Matt was here for TNT to cover game 4 of the Raptors playoff series with Orlando. I don’t think he had any idea that these fans would end up being the ones he would be calling games for in the upcoming 08/09 season. He said in our conversation that he had never thought a day would come that Chuck would leave the Raptors. I think many of us felt the same way. But as we all know Chuck did make a choice for his family to return to Chicago and work for the Bulls on Radio. Matt would end up with a chance to work here in Toronto which was a great chance for him based on having family in the area. A challenge for him it will be, as Chuck Swirsky was a huge hit with majority of fans of Toronto Raptors. But one that Devlin was willing to take on as he has a lot of experience and knowledge of NBA in his own right. But he is aware of what Chuck meant to the fan base. He talks about that and how Chuck has helped him since taking over.

“Chuck has been great throughout this whole process, we’ve talked, texted, and e-mailed each other. We’ve shared moving stories and he’s been a tremendous resource to me and my family. I have so much respect for everything that he accomplished in Toronto and I wish him continued success in Chicago. I realize that he had a special connection to the fans here, he was the voice of the Raptors for a decade, so I understand that it will take time for fans to get used me. I hope through time, I will be able to build a strong relationship with this devoted fan base. I don’t know if there is another NBA fan base as passionate as the Raptors fans, I really don’t, they are devoted to their team and it’s great to be a part of it. I’ve been overwhelmed and humbled by the response I’ve received from Raptors Nation.”

Jack Armstrong in an interview on this blog said the Raptors were lucky that someone like Matt was out there for the Raptors to hire to replace Chuck. Devlin and Armstrong have worked together in the past and will now be on TSN doing rumoured to be 45 games this season. Matt had this to say about what he thought about Jack and his chance to work with him again

First and foremost Jack’s a friend…he’s a great guy, the sort of guy that you want to hang out and talk sports with all day.  He brings outstanding perspective…not only on the game of basketball but in life as well….as a broadcaster he has all the tools…he knows the game, he relates to the fans, he can explain why a play happened and he can have fun! Jack  and I go back to our MSG Network days working WNBA games and College Hoops.  We had a lot of fun together and I can’t wait to announce a game with him again.”

Jack Armstrong said when he visited to talk about Matt was that he was not Chuck and in turn Chuck was not Matt. This has been said by everyone. But what Jack also said his how hard working and good Matt was at his job in his own right. It all is a matter of styles of broadcasters. No two play by play people are the same. I have minor experience in calling games and understand this perhaps a little better than the average fan might. I wanted to hear what Matt had to say about his own style of broadcasting and his approach to calling games.

“Ultimately, it’s not about me, it’s about the game, it’s about the players on the floor, JO, Bosh, Jose…it’s about the fans, and Jack and Leo…I’m there to inform, describe and entertain. I’m passionate about the game yet straightforward. Do I want the Raptors to win YES, Do I get excited YES! I try to let the game dictate the broadcast…a preseason game is different from a regular season game which is different from a postseason game. I enjoy telling stories about players and coaches…I do a lot of prep work, stats, trends and storylines. I love prepping for a game, it’s fun…then it all depends on the flow of the game, sometimes you use it, sometimes the game is so good you just stick to the game. I feel extremely fortunate to have this job. It’s a dream job.”

But it is not just Matt that will be new for Raptor Fans. The team on the floor is going to look a lot different as well with Jemaine O’Neal and all the additions and subtractions from the roster. I myself looked at the roster a couple days ago. So you have a understanding of my thoughts. But when we have guests connected to the team it only makes sense to ask them about their thoughts. So here is Matt Devlin and his take on your new look Raptors

” I really like the addition of JO, on many levels, offensively with Bosh it creates a inside presence that NBA teams will have a hard time dealing with. Defensively, it provides a presence that they didn’t have a year ago, Jermaine can alter a game with his shot blocking ability…Jermaine is a 6 time All-Star that has said all the right things about being a part of the Raptors. Bosh is a 3 time All-Star..the only other team in the East that I can think that has 9 All-Star appearances or more at the 4 & 5 positions is Boston, and that’s just KG by himself. It will be extremely important for Kapono to play like he did in the playoffs. Jose is the most underrated point guard in the NBA, look at his assists numbers and his assists to turnover ratio, he’s a potential All-Star. Jose could average a double-double this year. Parker is so solid, he just needs to continue to do what he does. Bargnani needs to continue to progress and become a valuable option off of the bench. As you continue to break down the roster I like it a lot, if there are any concerns, it’s heatlh. But that’s always a concern.”

One of the things that Raptor Fans always seem to have an interest in that may not matter, but is always an issue, is what do people in the United States think about our Toronto Raptors. Matt Devlin has been in the United States and can give us that prospective. So here is what he had to say about the feelings around the league of your Toronto Raptors since Bryan Colangelo came on board.

“Everyone that I have spoken to from the NBA league office to Executives with teams to Network executives have nothing but great things to say about the Raptors organization.  And it all starts with Bryan Colangelo. He has the track record and the vision to get it done in Toronto. Look at the latest deal he did with Indiana as an example, it works on so many NBA levels, you have a player in Jermaine O’Neal that is a 6 time All-Star that wants to win, wants to prove himself, he’s healthy for the first time in years and it’s a short term deal that could potentially create a ton of cap space.”

One of the things that Raptor Fans are also upset about is the lack of coverage of the Raptors in the United States. The Raptors have had few times where they have been on national T.V in the regular season.  Vince Carter busted down the doors and got Raptors on Network T.V but until last season the Raptors were off the Radar. ESPN did a couple of games last season. But the Monday Night Football of the NBA is the Thursday night games on TNT. Charles Barkley joking said that TNT was Bias against Canada. But the real reason is ratings and the fact the Raptors can not draw them. Vince Carter was able to break through and just to see V.C people would tune in to watch Toronto. But Chris Bosh although an All-Star does not have that kind of drawing power. But does the Raptors adding Jermaine O’Neal change anything for the Raptors breaking on to TNT. Matt worked for TNT so I asked him his thoughts about all of this about Raptors and American Television

If you know Charles you know he loves to have fun and make comments to get people going. Remember what he said about San Francisco a couple of years ago when the Warriors were in the playoffs. He had the entire Bay Area after him. As far as getting a game, it’s a possibility.  The more they keep winning the better the chance.  Although, it wasn’t a Thursday night game, I announced 2 Raptors games on TNT during the playoffs.

Sam Mitchell was talked about by many at the end of last season and there was mixed opinion of him here in Toronto. Bryan Colangelo would put to rest any ideas of Sam Mitchell being fired. But I was interested in Matt’s take on Sam Mitchell who Devlin would have known very well if not for the Raptors.

Sam’s a coach of the year, that’s an incredible honour.  I was in Charlotte when Bernie Bickerstaff hired Sam to be his number 1 assistant. Bernie’s plan at the time was to have Sam take over as head coach eventually in Charlotte, however the Raptors offered him the head job about three weeks into his time in Charlotte and Sam jumped at it. 

It is busy times for Matt as he is in process of getting to Toronto with his Family he also has work to do before the basketball season. Matt is off to China to be part of the Olympic coverage on NBC. There is much interest in the Basketball Tournament as part of those games. Several Raptors will be playing for the Nations they call home. 3 of the 4 on the current Raptor roster. So I asked Matt what he was going to be working on over in China and would he have a chance to check out the basketball. In addition his opinions on the tournament itself.

“Once you are at your venue, I’ll be announcing wrestling for NBC with Gold medalist Rulon Gardner, you get so consumed by what you’re covering that it’s difficult to break away from it, so as much as I would love to check out basketball, I doubt there’ll be any time.  I believe everything is in place for Team USA to win.  After being embarrassed in Athens, they have the right leadership in place in Hall of Famer Jerry Colangelo who hired the right coach in Coach K. They’ve assembled a great team and got them to commit for 3 years and now it’s up to the players to deliver.  But it won’t be easy, all you have to do is look at Spain’s roster, it deep and talented as well.”

That is the real wrestling, you know the stuff that Kurt Angle did before he got to WWE and TNA. So no chance of Matt ending up like Michael Cole did on Raw last week. I know some of the readers are wrestling fans so I thought you might get a kick out of that.

I asked Matt if there was anything he wanted to let the fans know about him personally or job wise. He took this chance to talk about his love of coaching his kids in another sport.

One of the things I love to do is coach my boys baseball teams.  I’ve coached my boys the last 4 years, first it was T-ball with my oldest son, Jack, the next year I coached both T-ball and coach -pitch because my middle son, Ian, started playing T-ball and Jack moved up. The last 2 years I’ve coached both Jack and Ian in coach-pitch.  Next summer after the season I look forward to coaching again,  this time in Toronto and it looks like it might be a two team situation again because my youngest son Luke said he wanted to play T-ball.

Matt also mentioned how all of his family was excited to move to Toronto and Canada in his blog on Raptors website. We have a link to that blog on the page of the site if you did not know. Matt in talking with me gave a lot of his time. We had a very long conversation. Given the many thing he has going on in his life at the moment I was very grateful he did. I wanted a chance to get to know him and if I could in some small way help him get to know Raptor fans. I have said it before in this blog, I see myself as someone who tries to represent Raptor Fans. I think Matt understood that in talking with me. He even asked me some stuff about this blog. In preparing for this interview I mentioned the feature I recently wrote on Nathan Jawai. Matt asked if he could see it when I had finished it prior to us talking. He was kind enough to tell me how much he thought of the hard work and great content that was in it. I was very happy he thought highly of my work. When Chuck Swirsky left it was a great shock to everyone. I admit no matter who the Raptors selected to replace him I was going to be concerned. However in my conversations with Jack Armstrong and now Matt as well, I really have got to know a lot about Matt. I have been very impressed with what he has had to say about everything to do with taking on this job. I worked very hard on this because I wanted to give Raptor Fans a chance to get to know Matt. Some folks will miss Chuck regardless of whatever could be said about Matt. I think he understands that as do I having been around for Chuck’s 10 years. That being said Raptor fans should and I hope will give Matt a chance to prove he can do a great job as well. It may be in a different way, but just like the players in the NBA get things done in a variety of ways, same is true with broadcasters.

I can clearly tell that Matt is ready and excited to take on this challenge. The last thing I asked him was what he was looking most forward too in his new job

The first home game, a sold out crowd and a Raptors win! All on the same night!!!

That is something I think we all want to see. I welcome Matt to the Raptor family and our family here at the Dino Nation Blog. Matt has been really great to work with and will come back and visit us in the future I have no doubt. So I look forward to that and wish him and his family the best as they start a new life here in Toronto and Canada.

Tags: Bryan Colangelo, Chris Bosh, Jack Armstrong, Jermaine O'Neal, Jose Calderon, Matt Devlin, Olympics 2008, Sam Mitchell