Brendan Vogt

Yeah.

I mean, part of it is that it's been a handful of years now.

And like, that was sort of the hesitation for some folks with the initial plan was, do we really want to spend some years kind of waiting, but

Two, three years later, these guys are ready to contribute on an NBA level.

The other part of it is just an unbelievable amount of unexpected opportunity for everyone.

It just, like, it's what, you know...

Malone, I didn't think, had much of a mind to develop Peyton Watson.

Peyton Watson probably also still would have gotten to have the ball in his hands if everyone else was injured for a month.

Like, it just opened the door for guys that were trying to contribute in limited roles on a team that had high expectations.

So you're playing 11, 12 minutes.

You don't get to find a rhythm.

And if you make a mistake, you're worried you're going to get yanked.

There was a month and a half of, hey, we need you to be you and play your game and play confidently for half of the back end of this roster, right?

So...

I do think that's part of it.

And then Julian is a guy who's also just showed that when he plays really well, like the top end of his game belongs in an NBA environment.

I don't think you can accidentally do what he did against the Thunder.

So really cool to see him stringing it together consistently across a long stretch.

And it's one of the things that people in the organization, teammates, coaches, front office, have all said about Julian.

He's a coachable guy, he works hard, he'll wait his turn.