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OT: The Official Toronto Raptors Thread

zeke said:
The starting lineup already has one guy with no jumper (poeltl) and another with a shaky one (scottie). I guess RJ's is good now even though it wasn't in NY.

It absolutely needs more shooting. All the good teams have guys that can create their own shot and be dead eye off ball shooters right through their starting lineup.

The lineup absolutely needs more shooting. Would be so refreshing to see a raps team with scorers all over the floor for once.
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But it also needs badly more defence, and if you have someone whose role is just to play D and stand in the corner spacing on offence (with some off ball cutting to the rim mixed in) who can hit the corner 3 at 37-38%, you're fine.

If you slot Gradey to your starting lineup, the bench starts looking pretty inept offensively in a hurry with no one who is a shot creator out there, which means more Scottie + 4 guys who can't create their own shot as your 2nd unit, which means less Scottie with RJ+IQ. The other thing is that there's only one ball. Grady is the 3rd option at best when BBQ is on the floor. I would much rather see him as the 1st option on the bench unit and allowed to just chuck with no conscience. If he's on that night, you can always slot him in with your closing lineup, if he's not then opt for the defensive presence of Brown or whoever else.
 
The more you play gradey the more time he gets to learn D.

The lineup already has D specialists in poeltl and barnes. IQ is quite good too.

Let's have a team of actual NBA skill level for once.
 
MindzEye said:
But it also needs badly more defence, and if you have someone whose role is just to play D and stand in the corner spacing on offence (with some off ball cutting to the rim mixed in) who can hit the corner 3 at 37-38%, you're fine.

If you slot Gradey to your starting lineup, the bench starts looking pretty inept offensively in a hurry with no one who is a shot creator out there, which means more Scottie + 4 guys who can't create their own shot as your 2nd unit, which means less Scottie with RJ+IQ. The other thing is that there's only one ball. Grady is the 3rd option at best when BBQ is on the floor. I would much rather see him as the 1st option on the bench unit and allowed to just chuck with no conscience. If he's on that night, you can always slot him in with your closing lineup, if he's not then opt for the defensive presence of Brown or whoever else.
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Isn't that Ja'Kobe Walter's music?

(In a year or 2)
 
zeke said:
The more you play gradey the more time he gets to learn D.
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There's no reason he can't get 26-28mpg as a 6 man

zeke said:
The lineup already has D specialists in poeltl and barnes. IQ is quite good too.
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No one has looked good in Darko's system defensively though other than Scottie. Everyone else's defensive metrics have graded way below what they looked like on other teams. That is by far the most important thing to get fixed when this team is healthy, there isn't a close 2nd issue imo.

zeke said:
Let's have a team of actual NBA skill level for once.
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IQ-Brown-RJ-Scottie-Poeltl is plenty skilled as a 5 man unit.
 
Bruce Brown does not belong in an nba starting lineup. And poeltl certainly isn't a skilled starter.
 
Pwner said:
Isn't that Ja'Kobe Walter's music?

(In a year or 2)
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Oh, I expect Gradey to end up something resembling average defensively. Good size, isn't a dummy. He just isn't yet. I'd rather role shelter him a bit now, get him facing more 2nd units with less defensive responsibility (if he's in the starting lineup we need either him or RJ defending opposition best wing players....neither are ideal for that role. Neither are ideal defending the point of attack on switches, etc)

Ja'Kobe hopefully slots in as the first guard off of the bench within 1-2 years though, yeah. Though I have some questions about his shot making ability despite the reputation.
 
MindzEye said:
Oh, I expect Gradey to end up something resembling average defensively. Good size, isn't a dummy. He just isn't yet. I'd rather role shelter him a bit now, get him facing more 2nd units with less defensive responsibility (if he's in the starting lineup we need either him or RJ defending opposition best wing players....neither are ideal for that role. Neither are ideal defending the point of attack on switches, etc)

Ja'Kobe hopefully slots in as the first guard off of the bench within 1-2 years though, yeah. Though I have some questions about his shot making ability despite the reputation.
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I thought Ja'Kobe is a 3 and D guy, at least his draft profile was. He has shown some shot creation tho
 
zeke said:
Bruce Brown does not belong in an nba starting lineup. And poeltl certainly isn't a skilled starter.
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Brown was a 6 man on a NBA champion and started almost half of their regular season games, he can fill the same type of role here.
 
Pwner said:
I thought Ja'Kobe is a 3 and D guy, at least his draft profile was. He has shown some shot creation tho
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He is, but the 3 part of that is questionable. He wasn't a knock down shooter in college but somehow picked up the reputation anyway.
 
Wonder what they do with Brown if they are out of it near the deadline. I’d assume they’d move him for a similar contract but longer term to kick the money down the road. Same with Boucher.

No sense in losing the cap flexibility by letting them leave.

Looks like #CapturetheFlagg is the hashtag this year. That Ace Bailey looks great too.
 
Leafin' said:
Wonder what they do with Brown if they are out of it near the deadline. I’d assume they’d move him for a similar contract but longer term to kick the money down the road. Same with Boucher.

No sense in losing the cap flexibility by letting them leave.

Looks like #CapturetheFlagg is the hashtag this year. That Ace Bailey looks great too.
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Yeah, I'm on the Chase for Ace if a tank or lottery luck happens. We need that guy with big nuts who makes buckets out of bad possessions in late clock, Ace is that guy in this draft imo. Apparently is measuring at 6'10 now as well.

Flagg is the guy who has gotten early hype for how advanced his two way game is, but Bailey's ceiling is way higher imo. With Flagg you're getting a guy you can 100% win a title with as a core piece, but probably not as your #1 guy unless Brad Stevens is building the rest of your starting 5. Bailey doesn't have nearly as high a floor (think Brandon Ingram as a floor) buy his ceiling is basically what would have happened if TMac was bigger and stayed healthy.
 
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