Raptors Discussion: v97 Raptor's 2024-2025 - Training camp begins Oct. 1
- Thread starter The Nemesis
- Start date
I started watching in the second quarter. Like the compete level. RJ and Grady were solid. Poeltl is getting his game on track. Thought he was good against the Nuggets. The young guys Mogbo and Shead were good. Mitchell is great on the defensive end but struggles offensively.
Dumb turnovers and a lack of shooting at times are hurting the team. The lack of a solid backup C sucks. I'd rather Mogbo play than Bruno.
Dumb turnovers and a lack of shooting at times are hurting the team. The lack of a solid backup C sucks. I'd rather Mogbo play than Bruno.
Bruno shouldn't be out there at all.
Boucher has done a nice job, but sometimes gets chuck happy.
Shead should have gotten more minutes. One PG didn't make a single non-layup and ended up negative for plus/minus whereas Shead did and was a 0.
Stylizer1
Teflon Don
Who cares as long as they keep losing and Gradey getting all the shots. We need him to become a lethal shooter who can go out there and kill every team on any given night.
I think we have Quickly for the starter he is just a back up but what happened to IQ?
Suntouchable13
Registered User
Imagine if Jak got hurt? Well, we've seen that last season. We won't win a game.
Embrace the tank. Don't get attached to mediocre talent. This season is about who can fill roles moving forward. The rest will be traded or let go.
It's one thing to embrace the tank.
It's another to realize that if this team doesn't get lottery luck that they could end up having to draft a guard while having IQ, Barrett, Barnes locked up.
If you want to tank in a useful way, change the roles around a little and start experimenting with different lineups (like one with Poetl and another bigger guy like Boucher for interior D and one with Mitchell and Shead on at once). Don't try to ram the same concepts through over and over and just change the names playing those roles.
What a crazy game, got absolutely owned in the first quarter to end up finishing that close is pretty remarkable. Excellent game from Dick and Barret.
Dick is awesome. How did raps only get 13 free throw attempts and La got 41? Yet the raps had more points in the paint. That tells me the raps were in the paint a lot but got no calls? Lediddy getting all the fake calls again?
Most of the time it was only 4 men defending while one of Davis or Lebron was just waiting in our half court to score easy buckets. It sucks to have just 2 people who can score from 5 men.
A couple of notes a few games in:
Positives: Dick, Barrett, Poetl, Mogbo, Agbaji are all 0.3WS or higher. Those kind of numbers will play in a rotation.
On the other hand, Shead has a better WS than Mitchell but worse WS/48 suggesting that leaning on Mitchell because he's tough on the ball is stupid. IQ coming back makes this moot but as long as we need these two to basically split the game, it needs to be closer to 50/50.
Walter has 1 game so its hard to make any judgments. Otoh, despite limited minutes, it's easy to see how bad Carton has been and think that he shouldn't be playing more.
Positives: Dick, Barrett, Poetl, Mogbo, Agbaji are all 0.3WS or higher. Those kind of numbers will play in a rotation.
On the other hand, Shead has a better WS than Mitchell but worse WS/48 suggesting that leaning on Mitchell because he's tough on the ball is stupid. IQ coming back makes this moot but as long as we need these two to basically split the game, it needs to be closer to 50/50.
Walter has 1 game so its hard to make any judgments. Otoh, despite limited minutes, it's easy to see how bad Carton has been and think that he shouldn't be playing more.
Da Cool Rula
Registered User
Dunno guys but the way this team playing despite losing right now, when Scottie & IQ come back this may be a playin team.
Depending on when they come back, Toronto could be way back.
I have little faith in this team moving up too much in the standings given that IQ is expected to miss an 8th straight with a sore pelvis (recovery can be anywhere from days to months).
I have little faith in this team moving up too much in the standings given that IQ is expected to miss an 8th straight with a sore pelvis (recovery can be anywhere from days to months).
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Their schedule in November sucks too. Pistons twice and the rest are very good teams.
Da Cool Rula
Registered User
That is true.
And I think we all know IQ & his bruise pelvis feels like. Tobogganing as a kid and we hit that bump.
Clark4Ever
What we do in hockey echoes in eternity...
The injuries are a blessing in disguise. This team needs to tank as much as possible as this season and with a healthy lineup, they would have likely challenged for a spot in the play in, which would be useless to the organization moving forward.
stickty111
Registered User
- Jan 23, 2017
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Suntouchable13
Registered User
So let me ask you this: how do we not end up like Detroit or Charlotte, teams that are in a perpetual rebuild? If tanking is so great how come those teams are not contenders yet? It's very disappointing to me that we can not see IQ and Barnes together. I thought this season was about finding out who fits around them, but when they are not playing we can't really have a full gauge on where other guys fit going forward.
red devil
Registered User
- Oct 14, 2004
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By drafting well. By making prudent trades. By using your cap space intelligently.
It's not foolproof but this isn't a free agent destination. The alternatives aren't great options either.
I am a hard opposer to tanking
You could make the play-in and get Cooper Flagg. You could finish last and be forced to draft a slightly better Gradey.
In a perfect world, you identify someone who could be a good fit with the current four and swing a deal (IMO, that's Brown+ for someone that can start at the 4). You run that kind of system to try to maximize what you have now and hope for lottery luck. If you have a starting 5, then any good player in the draft is either a backup who pushes a current starter to backup or an opportunity to move a current player to potentially strengthen another position.
If he were available, Obi Toppin would be an amazing get (as an example).
To explain why I keep insisting a PF is necessary...
On every single possession with Poetl/Olynyk/Boucher and no other big, the opponent can bring their C up top, force a switch, dribble-penetrate and kick for an open 3 (usually corner). With a bigger guy at the 4, you can't pull all of Poetl, Scottie, 4 out of the middle which means that Toronto isn't forced to send help on the drive, which means that the wings are covered.
On every single possession with Poetl/Olynyk/Boucher and no other big, the opponent can bring their C up top, force a switch, dribble-penetrate and kick for an open 3 (usually corner). With a bigger guy at the 4, you can't pull all of Poetl, Scottie, 4 out of the middle which means that Toronto isn't forced to send help on the drive, which means that the wings are covered.
