2012/13 Toronto Raptors Draft Thread *Poll Edited*

[Weems]

What would be the appeal in keeping our pick, especially if we're overwhelmingly in favour of selecting another middling and redundant SG? I'm not denying he's much more skilled, athletic, and talented than what we have, but he doesn't propel us up from one of the very least talented teams in the NBA.

The pick and Lowry are gone no matter what. If we delay our rebuild, we end up picking in a less opportune time and most probably end up drafting an inferior talent.

Of course, none of this should be relevant considering our awful roster will still end up finishing higher than ~6 teams.

[fredericklove]

Larry Drew destroyed UNC and now he's slowly destroying UCLA. He just doesn't know how to run a team effectively, can't find guys to score, makes questionable decisions, overthrows a pass on transition in late stretch, also throws up airball floater and a tough floater through traffic and turns the ball over so many times.

Kyle Anderson played his best all around game in the first half, dribble drives, attack the glass, scores in the paint, but 2nd half he sort of disappeared. If he has above average athleticism he'd be so damn good.

Bazz was not having a great 1st half, he's taking some tough turnaround jump shots and can't attack the congested lane, his points total from 1st half came from FTs resulted from getting fouled on the baseline and one from near the rim for offensive rebound and puts it back in. No one sets him up for a post up play, twice in the game that he wanted to post up but Kyle Anderson ignored him. Also a few times he was ignored on the offense.

Second half near the final 10 minutes, he became more engaged offensively, scored a 3 pointer, scored on a transition play, catch and shoots over the defender near free throw line. He was playing aggressive all game even though he has passed up some scoring opportunities, but he was good at drawing fouls. in terms of rebounding, he tried to crash the glass, there was a play where he outrebounded two guys (one was a big guy), but longhorn has big defenders in the paint, its hard to outrebound them.

UCLA is too young, no chemistry, no teamwork and Drew's a team killer lol. They came back from behind on a 13-2 run in the last 3 mins of play in this game vs. the longhorns. Congratulation, but there's no way they can compete w/ ranked teams.

[TheFreshPrince]

Yeah, I was watching that game as well and Bazz looked pretty mediocre in the first half, but he picked it up later on. His situation reminds me of Perry Jones and Andre Drummond where they had stupid point guards who couldn't run a team if their lives depended on it. I'm a huge UNC fan, and Fred is right when he calls Larry Drew a team killer. I'll just say, Bazz will be a much better pro than he is a college player because of his bummy teammates.

[fredericklove]

Yeah, I was watching that game as well and Bazz looked pretty mediocre in the first half, but he picked it up later on. His situation reminds me of Perry Jones and Andre Drummond where they had stupid point guards who couldn't run a team if their lives depended on it. I'm a huge UNC fan, and Fred is right when he calls Larry Drew a team killer. I'll just say, Bazz will be a much better pro than he is a college player because of his bummy teammates.

That 1 on none break kills me, idk how Drew could throw a blind ass pass that went nowhere near Bazz's body, like threw it all the way to and out of bound? Bazz turned back and just walked back slowly shaking his head. And the team killer tried to play a heroball chucking that 3 to tie the game, just thank god Adams bailed him out at that play.

I say Anderson is the best passer on the team and heck one of the best passers in the country, he could really throw a superb accurate hard pinpoint pass right at the target. That one play where he rebounds the ball, throws a quick long hard pass right at his teammate on the other end of the floor, right on his hand, that play was very Lebronish. I say in order for UCLA to be successful, they need to give Anderson the ball, let him be the primary point forward, you can't really rely on Drew much. Too bad Anderson is so desperate to score and at times neglect everyone else. They also need to run more iso post up play for Bazz too. He is their main go to guy after all.

[DA_SCOUT]

Goodwin

[TheFreshPrince]

Yeah, I was watching that game as well and Bazz looked pretty mediocre in the first half, but he picked it up later on. His situation reminds me of Perry Jones and Andre Drummond where they had stupid point guards who couldn't run a team if their lives depended on it. I'm a huge UNC fan, and Fred is right when he calls Larry Drew a team killer. I'll just say, Bazz will be a much better pro than he is a college player because of his bummy teammates.

That 1 on none break kills me, idk how Drew could throw a blind ass pass that went nowhere near Bazz's body, like threw it all the way to and out of bound? Bazz turned back and just walked back slowly shaking his head. And the team killer tried to play a heroball chucking that 3 to tie the game, just thank god Adams bailed him out at that play.

I say Anderson is the best passer on the team and heck one of the best passers in the country, he could really throw a superb accurate hard pinpoint pass right at the target. That one play where he rebounds the ball, throws a quick long hard pass right at his teammate on the other end of the floor, right on his hand, that play was very Lebronish. I say in order for UCLA to be successful, they need to give Anderson the ball, let him be the primary point forward, you can't really rely on Drew much. Too bad Anderson is so desperate to score and at times neglect everyone else. They also need to run more iso post up play for Bazz too. He is their main go to guy after all.

It seems like some of these coaches are more concerned with their reputation than actually winning games and maybe producing good NBA players. It's just like last season with Jeremy Lamb getting robbed out of being a higher pick with Shabazz Napier thinking he was like the pigmy Michael Jordan. I have my doubts that Muhammad will actually get the chance to thrive this season at UCLA with Drew running the offense. Anderson is a nice player and actually makes his teammates better, but I was so glad when Larry Drew left UNC. It's just sad that he's going to hinder the growth of Shabazz.

[Mr.Raptorsingh]

Goodwin

Yup yup. This is the early favorite for me, other than maybe Muhammed.

[fredericklove]

Yeah, I was watching that game as well and Bazz looked pretty mediocre in the first half, but he picked it up later on. His situation reminds me of Perry Jones and Andre Drummond where they had stupid point guards who couldn't run a team if their lives depended on it. I'm a huge UNC fan, and Fred is right when he calls Larry Drew a team killer. I'll just say, Bazz will be a much better pro than he is a college player because of his bummy teammates.

That 1 on none break kills me, idk how Drew could throw a blind ass pass that went nowhere near Bazz's body, like threw it all the way to and out of bound? Bazz turned back and just walked back slowly shaking his head. And the team killer tried to play a heroball chucking that 3 to tie the game, just thank god Adams bailed him out at that play.

I say Anderson is the best passer on the team and heck one of the best passers in the country, he could really throw a superb accurate hard pinpoint pass right at the target. That one play where he rebounds the ball, throws a quick long hard pass right at his teammate on the other end of the floor, right on his hand, that play was very Lebronish. I say in order for UCLA to be successful, they need to give Anderson the ball, let him be the primary point forward, you can't really rely on Drew much. Too bad Anderson is so desperate to score and at times neglect everyone else. They also need to run more iso post up play for Bazz too. He is their main go to guy after all.

It seems like some of these coaches are more concerned with their reputation than actually winning games and maybe producing good NBA players. It's just like last season with Jeremy Lamb getting robbed out of being a higher pick with Shabazz Napier thinking he was like the pigmy Michael Jordan. I have my doubts that Muhammad will actually get the chance to thrive this season at UCLA with Drew running the offense. Anderson is a nice player and actually makes his teammates better, but I was so glad when Larry Drew left UNC. It's just sad that he's going to hinder the growth of Shabazz.

Other than Coach Cal who's extremely good at developing young talent, other coaches are like what you said. They don't seem to run many plays for their "star" player. About what you said of Bazz's similar situation with Drummond and PJ3, I say he's more like the opposite version of Barnes in a very young lineup w/ non-veteran. For Barnes, his issue was that he isn't elite level of athlete but has enough repertoire of pivot and shotfake moves to get himself in scoring position but his trouble w/ defenders shielding the lane causes him lots of problems. Whereas Bazz has very good athleticism and explosiveness but he doesn't have any pivot/shotfake/deceptive moves whatsoever, so it's hard for him to explode to the rim thru traffic.

UCLA is just a bad system for him, its slow pace half court offense w/ bunch of kids that got no clue how to operate a play. While I think Bazz is better suited w/ the Cats' fast pace transition offense, but I say he should've played for Duke, they have a group of solid passing bigs and wing/guard players that run good play for one another, that can hide his flaws and give him more scoring opportunity, also the team is full of veteran guys that can help stimulate Bazz's growth too.

[Chaos Engine]

Man Bazz doesn't stand out the way AD or John Wall did during their draft years...He doesn't seem 1st overall tank worthy to me...

[Kabookalu]

Man Bazz doesn't stand out the way AD or John Wall did during their draft years...He doesn't seem 1st overall tank worthy to me...

I was always a bit iffy about Shabazz because he's always lacked an all around game to me and has some very questionable handles that sometimes make DeRozan look like Rafter Alston, but he's better than this.

[ATLTimekeeper]

Other than Coach Cal who's extremely good at developing young talent, other coaches are like what you said.

I think you mean "showcase talent." Shabazz will become a better player under Howland, even though he might not look as special this year.

[TheFreshPrince]

Agree completely Fred!

And guys, keep an eye on Michael Carter Williams at Syracuse. Check out his line from tonight: 15 pts, 3 rebs, 16 asts, 5 stls, 4 blks

[sunsetcrash]

is that you marlo stanfield?

[fredericklove]

Man Bazz doesn't stand out the way AD or John Wall did during their draft years...He doesn't seem 1st overall tank worthy to me...

I was always a bit iffy about Shabazz because he's always lacked an all around game to me and has some very questionable handles that sometimes make DeRozan look like Rafter Alston, but he's better than this.

That seems to be the problem if defenders are so tight on Bazz, he'll just be contained but I still think that an NBA floor will free him up more so he can fully take adv of his athleticism. Unlike Demar, he has good elevation on his bounce, it's more aggressive and more physical, that's good when he's attacking the rim and he takes it strong everytime instead of going up softly just hoping to get fouled a la Demar style.

Chaos, to be fair, Wall has the ball in his hand alot to operate his explosive game, while it's easier for a big man to play compared to a wing. However, I do feel he needs to improve his handles, it's lacking severely.

[fredericklove]

Lipscomb vs. Kentucky - FIRST HALF

FIrst 4 mins - Goodwins and Poythresis played carelessly (turnovers) so they got benched early. Noel did some good D and some not so good post up D, dive for the ball and took a charge, but opposing big scored on him on the post twice.

Poythress drew a foul near the rim, played alot of off ball and dishing to his teammate in the post, played solid disruptive D,

Goodwins exploded to the rim during transition and drew a foul, shot FTs,

Noel big time recovery block on his guy, led to transition fastbreak, Goodwins flashes a bullet pass to Poythrese for a one handed dunk

Goodwins dribbles drive and kicks to Poythress for a long range 3, Poy missed, next possession Goodwins did a lebron chase down big time block on his man from behind

Wijiter fed a quick pass to Poythresis whos near the rim for a quick lay in

Noel quick to the back side for a good weakside help, went for a big time block on this poor fellow (should've been goaltend)

Poythress scored again, another possession he did a big hop step thru traffic, missed the lay in

Noel displays weakside good D again, came to help out and block a guard who's trying to go at the rim.

Next possession, Noel defended his man in the post really well, long arms hands up and disrupted his guy

Harrow lop pass to Noel on transition fastbreak, he dunked it

Poythress posted up close to the rim, missed the baby hook, noel offensive putbacks

Next possession, Poythress catches and drives strong from the baseline, misses the lay in, but stays near the rim, gets the ball again and lay up attempts missed within 2 feet nbut draws the foul, shot 2 FTs

[fredericklove]

First half numbers

Goodwin 0-0 FG, 0 points, 2 fouls, 1 ast (?)
Noel 5 pts, 2-3 FG, 3 reb (?) and 3 blocks
Poythress 7 pts 2-8 FG, 3-4 FT

[fredericklove]

Not much actions from the big 3 in early 2nd half, but Noel alters two shots, two more blocks? Or maybe they won't be added to the stat sheet

poythress and noel got the early seats on the bench at 17 mins mark

Goodwins drives from baseline, quick feed to a teammate in the post for a quick bucket (good assist)

Strong offensive rebound in traffic by Noel, gets another off. another off. rebound, 2 nice rebounds thru traffic

Goodwins dribble drives and pulls up in mid air near free throw line, got foul, but no FT opportunity

Noel boxes out, has another nice rebound but calls for an over the back, no way, that's clean

On this one play, Noel alters a lay up, hustles and dives for the loose ball, gets the ball and calls timeout

Another play, Noel chases down and slaps the ball away from this other kid, credits for a steal

Goodwin blocks a shot at the perimeter

Btw, Witjer is ON FIRE TODAY, shot like 5-6 treys today (20 pts, 9 reb)

Goodwin drives from the wing, lays it in thru traffic

poythres goes for the offensive glass, got foul, shoots 2 FT (3 reb)

Noel knocks the ball away in the post, quick hands

Witjer up and under move, misses, goodwin tips it back in

An oncoming guard goes at Noel but he blocks that kid (Noel 7 blocks right now)

Next play, Noel intercepts a pass, another steal

Good bounce pass by one of the white no name kids to Goodwins and Goodwins goes at the rim for a lay up uncontested

Noel on the post, goes at his defender and dunks it in w/ his left hand

Noel posts up again but gets double team, gets stripped, gets called for a foul on the other end, done for the night in final 5 mins - foul out - 7 pts 9 reb, 7 blk, at least 3 steals

Wiljter 7 of 9 at 3 point line LMAO. Guy's on fire.

Goodwins takes off from left wing thru traffic again for a lay up, another play, a lob pass to Goodwin who goes up for a lay in

Poythress catches the ball at the baseline, pass by his defender and got fouled, shoots 2 FT (6 reb, 4 ast, but 2-8)

Pothyress catches the ball on the post and spins, gets triple team and gets hacked, FTs again

FINAL STAT

Goodwins 5-8 FG, 0-2 3PT, 0-3 FT, 10 pts
Noel 3-4 FG, 1-2 FT, 7 pts, 9 reb, 7 blks, 3 stls(?)
Poythress 2-8FG, 7-10 FT, 11 pts, 6 reb

[fredericklove]

Bazz has 13 points in 1st half, scored a few lay ups and pull up on transition break, scored a posted up fadaway at the high elbow, had a 3 pointer, hits some FTs, had a few good dish to his teammats (one of them was a nice pick and pop dish to Anderson for an uncontested mid range jumper (nice assist), he's moving much quicker now unlike the first few games where he was still kind of slow and out of shape.

2nd half - Scored a few that I've missed, spot up catch and shoot 3 at the wing, scored another 3 from the corner, draws foul on fastbreak (FTs), a nice dish to Drew for a 3 pointer (4th assist), Bazz also went for a dunk, got flagrant fouled lol

8-14 FG, 3-6 treys, 6-6 FTs, 25 pts, 2 reb, 4 ast

[Undefeated]

Good work fam. Can you give me the deets on Anderson?

[JunkYardSubs]

So one last time: what position is Shabazz in the NBA?