Alex McKechnie

I was thinking about this and the phrase is correctly, the loophole in the new parameters around load management is almost that Kawhi is older and his usage and I think the demand that the team's going to have from him is a lot different.

Well, on one hand, I think Alex McKechnie fears no repercussions and will do what he wants.

And then on the other, I think that they'll actually be able to manage him quite well with how he plays and how Darko wants to kind of have him and still develop guys like Alan Graves, you know, Jamal Shedd, like a lot of other people around him.

You know, I kind of see it working pretty well, actually, in tandem.

Whoa.

I think that's all going to help.

Um, you know, it's, we're not going to be the same because it can't be the same anymore you like some of the rules include like you have to balance home and road rest days so it's even and equal you have to again national tv tournament games you got to be playing for those you can't rest more than two stars in a single game so i guess you could get to work scotty hope you're not want to rest any games like so yeah it's it's going to be different but I think Alex McKechnie's got a pretty good handle on these things typically, and I think you have to feel...

Again, it's like, how much do you weigh the risk of the injury stuff with Kawhi here? Like, does it sap your excitement when you kind of look back at his games played track record and it's like, oh, 65, 35 or whatever, 68, like...

They've had him in their building.

They feel like their medical team, led by, uh, Alex McKechnie, is the best in the league, and they know how to handle his body, how to regulate him.

Remember, the concept of load management, even though it had been practiced before all over the league for years, Toronto was the one that actually put a name to it and did it arguably better than anyone's ever done it before.

And so they feel like this is a move that you do 'cause it puts them from just one of the teams to, "Hey, we are a championship contending team." And I agree.

It's all yours," right? Toronto didn't do that.

They had guardrails and restrictions, and they had a program.

And again, to answer Zaz's b- uh, question, Alex McKechnie is very, very well regarded around the league.

Like, he's one of the A1 medical people around the entire NBA, probably in NBA history.

And I think that gives you enough to get by without Kawhi, um, in the games he misses, and allows you to kinda pace him, I think, through the season a little bit like they did back in 2018, '19 as well.

I mean, if any team knows how to manage Kawhi Leonard and, and sort of get the best out of him when you need the best out of him, it's the team that employs Alex McKechnie, the Raptors' lead m- medical guy who was the sort of the Kawhi whisperer back in 2018, '19.

So, um, yeah, look, it could go wrong.

If Kawhi misses time and they run into other injury trouble, then certainly there's, you know, there's some, uh, potential falloff there.

We know this.

I do think it's very positive for Kawhi the rest of his career that he's going to be in Toronto where he'll be with Alex McKechnie, who is their vice president of player care, where I think he had, you know, obviously his best season in terms of success, you know, winning a championship with the Raptors.

But I think Um, they're going to do a great job under, uh, without Alex McKinney's program of making sure that Kawhi Leonard is at his peak and healthy and ready for April, May, and potentially June.

But as a consequence of that, yeah, they're probably going to nurse him through the season.

Uh, it was, it was a good time.

Mark Stein also reported this week that, um, former Canadian soccer player Nico Berg, who has studied under Alex McKechnie in Toronto and thus would naturally appeal to new Mavericks president of basketball operations, Masai Ujiri, has emerged as a prime candidate and is expected to land the position.

He has provided consulting to teams in the NFL, NHL, uh, English Premier League, as well as a close associate with McKechnie, uh, and Golden State's, uh, Rick Celebrini, two of the most highly rated experts in injury prevention space, in the injury prevention space.

Uh, so the Mavs are looking at him as coming on to be the head of, of medical, head of, you know, whatever, uh, you know, title [laughs] or title at, at the end that, um, uh, the, that they gave, uh, the head there.