I'm looking for a little info on your team

[jazzfan1971]

I'm starting up my offseason preview and wanted to get some info and feedback from you guys before I got going.

So, I come to you folks.

How do you see your depth chart breaking down?
What are the major story lines to your team this year?
How do you think you will finish record wise in the league? (what place? 1-30)
Tell me a little about your coaching situation.

Thanks in advance.

[stronglikebull]

I'm starting up my offseason preview and wanted to get some info and feedback from you guys before I got going.

So, I come to you folks.

How do you see your depth chart breaking down?
What are the major story lines to your team this year?
How do you think you will finish record wise in the league? (what place? 1-30)
Tell me a little about your coaching situation.

Thanks in advance.

we have great depth but still looking for a capable big to back up jonas.
How much will jonas improve? how much will ross improve?
We will finish number 1 because we are better than everyone else because we are the toronto raptors.
The coach sucks but it's okay.

[tdotboyy]

great depth - replace a terrible salmons with lou williams, got our joe johnson stopper in james johnson
ross/val development,
top 15 in nba
casey could coach defense but cant coach offense , the assistant coaches do that

[Ahmed1212]

I'm starting up my offseason preview and wanted to get some info and feedback from you guys before I got going.

So, I come to you folks.

How do you see your depth chart breaking down?
What are the major story lines to your team this year?
How do you think you will finish record wise in the league? (what place? 1-30)
Tell me a little about your coaching situation.

Thanks in advance.

The point guard/wing is going to be deep with a lot of 2 point guard or small ball line ups.

Lowry/Vazquez
Demar/Williams/Vazquez
Ross/Demar/Williams

While the bigs will be far less deep look for a simple 3 man rotation of Jonas, Patterson, sprinkle in some James Johnson for the Melos and Lebrons.


What are the major story lines to your team this year? Can either or both Ross and Jonas take the next if so this team will contend for the ECF. Ross has been working his butt off this off season and apparently is driven from his poor performance in the playoffs. While Jonas had a great game 1 and game 2 in the playoffs he's working with Hakeem the Dream on that post game and a running coach to improve his conditioning.

I think we will have homecourt advantage in the first round again this year. Possibly finish in the top 3. Depends on if the Cavs get Love or not.

I think Dwayne Casey has done a formidable job he's made some WTF errors but at the same time he has this team playing hard night in and night out and we pretty much never get blown out so can't complain.

[Scarface844]

I'm starting up my offseason preview and wanted to get some info and feedback from you guys before I got going.

So, I come to you folks.

How do you see your depth chart breaking down?
What are the major story lines to your team this year?
How do you think you will finish record wise in the league? (what place? 1-30)
Tell me a little about your coaching situation.

Thanks in advance.

1. Very deep. Deepest Raptor team in history. Our bench is Lou Williams, Vasquez, James Johnson, Patrick Patterson and Lucas Noguiera. Not being a homer at all when I say we have one of the deepest teams in the league as of right now.

2. Can the Raptors finally break the curse of having 1 great season and then plummeting back to lottery status? Can the young players improve and take the next step? Can Casey take the next step as a coach? Can we achieve 50 wins and make the 2nd round?

3. We'll finish with a 50-32 record imo. Improve by 2 games in a tougher eastern conference and once again take the 3rd spot behind the Bulls (if Rose is healthy) and Cavs. Not sure what spot overall in the league but top 10.

4. Casey is a interesting coach. Overhated and I'm also to blame for that overhating. Casey is a flawed coach especially on the offensive side of the ball. His lack of playcalling/awareness on that side of the ball can be frustrating. His last second plays and inability to call timely timeouts are also a big flaw.

Despite those flaws, Casey has come a long way in his 3 years here. He's improving in every area slowly. One great thing about the team is not only do our players have room for growth but so does our coach. Casey has become less stubborn and is learning to adapt on the fly and become better on the offensive end.

He's also making adjustments quicker and I thought for the most part his playoff rotations were good. He is a great motivator and really knows how to make a team buy into what he teaches especially on defense. Hes very media savy, good speaker knows what to say to the media and when to say it. He's also Rick Carlise's protege.

All in all, I think hes one of the better coaches in the league even though all Raptor fans (me included) can get frustrated with him, there's no denying hes a good coach. Even the Dallas Mavs of 2011 had the same trait our current Raptor team does.

Making late come backs and never getting blown out. Casey despite his flaws is improving and deserves a lot of credit. This doesn't excuse him from the mistakes hes made and what he has to accomplish in the future but I have more faith in him now then I did at the beginning of the season. Every coach is hated on by there team including Spurs fans who hate on Pop so Raptor fans have learned to be a little more reasonable.

[Chriscross]

I'm starting up my offseason preview and wanted to get some info and feedback from you guys before I got going.

So, I come to you folks.

How do you see your depth chart breaking down?
What are the major story lines to your team this year?
How do you think you will finish record wise in the league? (what place? 1-30)
Tell me a little about your coaching situation.

Thanks in advance.

1) Depth Chart:

Lowry/Vasquez
DeRozan/L.Williams
Ross/J.Johnson/Fields/Caboclo
A.Johnson/Patterson/Hansbrough
JV/Hayes/Nogueria

DeAndre Daniels is expected to be stashed away overseas
Thus, we have one open spot. We are probably looking for a 3rd PG or a upgrade on our backup Center

2) Major Storylines:

The Development of Ross and JV
Can Lowry prove that last season wasn't a contract year like performance?
Probably monitoring Caboclo and his development throughout the season

3) We expect to win the division and finished either 3rd or 4th. Personally, about the same record as last season

4) I think overall Casey has done a very good job but I am sure a lot of posters here will disagree. Excellent motivator and seems to have the respect of his team. Once everything settled down, his rotations were much better. He still makes mistakes (play calling wise) but hopefully it gets better. This is a big year for him

[chuckdevlin]

Current:
JV/Hayes/Bebe
Amir/PPat/Hans
Ross/JJ/Caboclo
DD/Lou-Will/Fields
Lowry/Vasquez

Projected:
JV/FA/Hayes/Bebe
Amir/PPat/Hans
Ross/JJ/Caboclo
DD/Lou-Will/Fields
Lowry/Vasquez

Storylines:
How will Ross/Jv develop?
How will Caboclo/Bebe look on an NBA floor?
What will DD improve on?
How will JJ/Lou affect our bench?

2-4 in the east.
50+ wins

Casey did an amazing job creating an environment where players want to work hard together and win.
Very structured defense.
Little structured offense.

[jonny three time]

Lowry - Vasquez - ?
Derozan - Lou Williams - fields
Ross - James Johnson - caboclo/Daniels (uncertain)
Amir Johnsom - Patterson - Hansbrough
Valanciunas - Hayes/nogueira (uncertain)

Who from the returning core can improve or will improve? Do we still need a closer or last shot guy? What can Lou Williams or James Johnson add? Does any player on the team have superstar upside?

48 to 50 wins

Casey gets the guys to work hard, his assistants added last year helped elevate the offense, defense is always good under him. He's a little slow to make rotation adjustments and never looks to force other teams into mismatches, just constantly tries to match the other team and rely on defense and hard work. When the opposition matches defensive intensity and work ethic our lack of star power gets exploited.

[RaptorNews]

Casey definitely has issues with rotations, but sometimes him keeping the young guys on a short leash has paid off. Other times he loves veteran scrubs. Were blessed Salmons and Novak are gone. Our depth is pretty phenomenal, maybe we could use another 7 footer but really were going to be able to rest everyone and win a lot of games because of fresh legs. Would not be shocked if Lowry missed around for precautions

Another storyline that will play out this season: WHAT WILL OUR NEW LOGO AND COLORS BE? I'm assuming well find out this winter.

[UnRealGM]

nice try, skip. do your own research!

[Dukenukem23]

I'm starting up my offseason preview and wanted to get some info and feedback from you guys before I got going.

So, I come to you folks.

How do you see your depth chart breaking down?
What are the major story lines to your team this year?
How do you think you will finish record wise in the league? (what place? 1-30)
Tell me a little about your coaching situation.

Thanks in advance.

Lowry/Vasquez
Derozan/Williams/Fields
Ross/J Johnson/Caboclo
Amir/Patteraon/Hansbrough
Val/Hayes/Nogueira

Top 10 team league wide. Re-signing Lowry was the biggest move, followed up by re-signing of all other major FA in Vasquez, Patterson.

All the coaching staff has been retained and extended an additional 3 years. The players have bought into the system and have developed some great chemistry under Casey.

[Risk101]

The biggest storyline is going to be if Jonas will make that leap this year into a breakout center in the East. Besides Noah he has no competition. Getting him established as a go to scorer is what I'm looking forward to.

Nobody better bring up Hibbert. That guy is trash.

[SciencePiggy]

I'd add man games lost to injury to the story lines. Raptors were top 5 in the league (if mangameslost.com is accurate) thanks to the wizard McKechnie. It's a young team (even moreso this year) but that's still a minor miracle with Amir's ankles and Kyle's bulldog style.

[Slackstring701]

So basically you don't know a single thing about our team but you want to use this forum to gather information that you will then reproduce as your own in some form of media?

Gotcha

[trick]

So basically you don't know a single thing about our team but you want to use this forum to gather information that you will then reproduce as your own in some form of media?

Gotcha

Yes, Jazzfan1971 is making money off of us internet folk who are so keyed in on the Raptors with our hard-to-get-anywhere-else inside info.

[pbj]

I'd add man games lost to injury to the story lines. Raptors were top 5 in the league (if mangameslost.com is accurate) thanks to the wizard McKechnie. It's a young team (even moreso this year) but that's still a minor miracle with Amir's ankles and Kyle's bulldog style.

Key, no one will appreciate Demar's ironman status until he gets hurt (knock on wood)

[Badonkadonk]

Another story line for some: Now that Lowry's getting paid, will all the haters who screamed "contract year" be proven right or will the true believers who feel he's finally found a home and role end up looking smart?

Personally, I think he's the pitbull and leader that he was last year.

[Chriscross]

So basically you don't know a single thing about our team but you want to use this forum to gather information that you will then reproduce as your own in some form of media?

Gotcha

Yes, Jazzfan1971 is making money off of us internet folk who are so keyed in on the Raptors with our hard-to-get-anywhere-else inside info.

Jazzfan1971 should pay me $0.79 per word I typed in reply to him

[OAKLEY_2]

Youth
Jonas Valancuinas is 22 and at times was dominant in his first playoffs. Could be a future allstar.
Terrence Ross 23, is a work in progress sharpshooter with very good defence. Jumps out of the gym and is starting.
Demar Derozan 24, the WC. fields of backcourt all stars. Works extremely hard to gain justified recognition.
Patrick Patterson, 25, a big with shooting and defence and getting better.
Bruno Cabloco, 18, out of nowhere pick that will likely be a good shooter and swat Mach machine. 7' 7" wingspan.
Bebe Nogueira 21, another swat machine and good distributor.

Age of rest of team.
Kyle Lowry 28
Amir Johnson 27
James Johnson 27
Grieivis Vasquez 27
Tyler Hansbrough 28
Chuck Hayes 31
Landry Fields 26
Lou Williams 27

Young defence focused team likely to get 50 wins. Third in the east and first in the Atlantic.

Maybe the best backcourt in the east.

Some good players will be odd men out in terms of minutes.

[mrdressup]

We' re heavily relying on organic growth, depth and team chemistry.

Injuries to key personnel will be something to watch for. To extrapolate last year's results we'd have to be just as fortunate in that regard.

Division is not going to be as easy. We could be better and have a few less wins. Matching last year's record against the Western teams will be a challenge.

1st in Atlantic. 3rd or 4th in Conference.

Coach is well liked. Players are buying in. Hope to continue top ten performances in defense/offense.