4 Years Of Appearences For Matt Devlin In The Starting 5

It may be hard to believe but it has been four years since Matt Devlin took over the job as play by play voice of the Toronto Raptors. I remember this only because at the time he first appeared here in the DNB's Starting 5 he was not only getting ready to be the new play by play voice for the Raptors but was also going to be covering the Olympics in China for NBC in United States. I think that I have shared this story before, but I will repeat it for folks who might not have been around for the last 4 years. Before Matt ever did an interview with us he spent an hour talking with me getting to know me personally and myself him. About the only thing we had in common was Jack Armstrong who Matt had worked with prior to coming to Toronto. So he took that time calling me not from Toronto, but from Charlotte and was nice enough to devote an hour of his day to getting to know myself and learn my thoughts on Raptor fans and basketball. It did a lot to win me over about Matt as a person and gave me a lot of respect for him. He took on the task of  replacing Chuck Swirsky who also is a great person personally and has been a guest a few times here since moving on to Chicago. There is no question both have very different styles as broadcasters. Matt has never attempted to be Chuck and has made the role his own. However, as people they are both tremendous and have been welcomed and willing guests for us in the Dino Nation Blog. In our talk today we go down memory lane a little off the top with Matt. We move on to a number of current topics including the Raptors and the draft lottery. We talk about a few of the Raptors in terms of their summer plans in terms of international basketball. Get into a general conversation on how this roster could ultimately be re-shaped. Also some thoughts from Matt on the Heat, Thunder and Spurs all sprinkled into the conversation. There is probably a few things I am forgetting but it is a good thirty minute conversation with Matt. Oh and there was another topic of what it could mean if the Raptors do in fact win the Steve Nash sweepstakes and if Matt feels Bryan Colangelo could make a case for the Raptors being able to get Steve Nash a ring in 3 years? So that is a rundown of what you can hear below.




Thanks to Matt as always it has been a great 4 years getting to know Matt and talk with him on so many occasions and do many interviews with him here to share with all of you folks in the Dino Nation Blog. We have a few more guests scheduled for later in the week. We will get into specifics about the draft with a fellow blogger that covers the Draft exclusively as well as will try and catch up with one of our regular guests. Also going to catch up with Jack Armstrong sometime between now and draft night. So were keeping busy. Part of the reason for adding our staff and this whole TEAM DNB Concept is to add to the number of interviews we do as well as start to develop some video content. Hope you enjoyed this interview and be on the look out for more episodes of the Starting 5 throughout the off-season.