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3rd quarter and 1 point lead for the Raptors .
hard to watch Kuz tonight
gg for Deni and Holmes so far

I believe that's Jordan Poole's first clutch assist of the season.

Don't trade Deni.

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^ Never.

Best player on the team, and the face of it as well. The only two-way player, and a guy who plays the game the right way.

(How many players on this team make the extra pass? Most don’t even make the pass.)

I heard some dude on sports radio — 980 — saying that Deni wouldn’t start for any other team in the league. So stupid. So clueless. The guy would start for at least 28 teams and probably EVERY team.

Butler with another weak outing. Didn't shoot well, 2 assists/2 turnovers. But at least we are seeing enough of him to make a judgement.

penbeast0 wrote:Butler with another weak outing. Didn't shoot well, 2 assists/2 turnovers. But at least we are seeing enough of him to make a judgement.

It wasn't all terrible. He did have a clutch inbound pass with limited time to get the ball over. He does need to improve his shooting but a 50% TS% is tolerable when he was +5 in the game.

I watched the game this morning out of curiosity.

First of all, we shouldn't get too excited about the win. Toronto was playing without 4 starters. TBH, I was more impressed with Toronto than with our team. They didn't have any primary option defense benders capable of drawing double team help and forcing defensive rotations, but still managed to run a competent offense. They did it by leveraging Kelly Olynyk's ability to operate from the high post. They played 5-out and set a lot of off ball screens to set-up back door cut after back door cut. It was really fun to watch and rather embarrassing that our defense couldn't adapt. We should have switched every off ball screen and kept those guys in front of us, but our defensive communication was awful.

Avdija and Kuzma were just taking turns picking on Gradey Dick every offensive possession. They would just call for his man to set a screen to get that matchup, and then go to work. Early on, Toronto had Gradey actually assigned to guard Avdija, which made no sense to me. Avdija just bullied him. I think Gradey will be a good player and is already looking good on offense, but he's going to have to get stronger.

It was nice to have Bagley back. He was insanely productive in 16 short minutes, nearly posting a double-double (10 points and 8 boards). He hit a corner 3 too. That ability might provide some interesting wrinkles next season.

Davis hit a nice contested pull-up, but badly blew an open corner 3. His defense was solid. Still, it's the same story with him. You can't play in the NBA if you are 6-5 or under and can't shoot 3's.

Baldwin definitely looks much more fluid and agile now than he did in Summer League. I don't know if it's that he wasn't 100% healthy in summer league, or if he has worked hard on lower body strength and agility, but I'm impressed. He now looks like an actual NBA player out there. He didn't do all that much in this game, but I've now moved him off the "sure bet to be a bust" category into "let's wait and see how he improves in the offseason".

It's too bad Vukcevik showed up just in time to see Holmes and Bagley get healthy. There just aren't any minutes for him.

Agreed on PBJ; He actually resembles an NBA player now.

And we got our first brief look at Vuc.

Raptors are positioning themselves well for the tank this season. They will lose the pick if they don't finish within the top 6. They have lot 10 in a row. Either way, the Poetl trade is looking pretty idiotic.

For the Wizards every win even against poor teams is a success for them given how their season is going. Yes the Raptors are playing without 4 starters but the Wizards are are also playing without 2 starters in Jones and Bilal. Also feels nice to beat a team with Kelly Olynyk even if it ultimately doesn't mean much.

badinage wrote:^ Never.

Best player on the team, and the face of it as well. The only two-way player, and a guy who plays the game the right way.

(How many players on this team make the extra pass? Most don’t even make the pass.)

I heard some dude on sports radio — 980 — saying that Deni wouldn’t start for any other team in the league. So stupid. So clueless. The guy would start for at least 28 teams and probably EVERY team.

Ah, to be so confidently out of the loop.

Imagine Deni on the Nuggets, Knicks (Thibs would play him 45 minutes a game and grind his knees to dust), OKC, Clippers, Suns, etc., etc. This guy would be getting All-Defensive recognition and would be a borderline All-Star. He'd seamlessly fit into so many squads because he's not a prima donna, plays excellent defense, hustle, isn't selfish, wants to win, etc., etc.

CntOutSmrtCrazy wrote:

badinage wrote:^ Never.

Best player on the team, and the face of it as well. The only two-way player, and a guy who plays the game the right way.

(How many players on this team make the extra pass? Most don’t even make the pass.)

I heard some dude on sports radio — 980 — saying that Deni wouldn’t start for any other team in the league. So stupid. So clueless. The guy would start for at least 28 teams and probably EVERY team.

Ah, to be so confidently out of the loop.

Imagine Deni on the Nuggets, Knicks (Thibs would play him 45 minutes a game and grind his knees to dust), OKC, Clippers, Suns, etc., etc. This guy would be getting All-Defensive recognition and would be a borderline All-Star. He'd seamlessly fit into so many squads because he's not a prima donna, plays excellent defense, hustle, isn't selfish, wants to win, etc., etc.

He definitely starts on:
Milwaukee (over Beasley)
Orlando (over Black)
Miami (over Robinson)
Philly (over Harrington)
Chicago (over Williams)
Atlanta (over Bey/Hunter)
Brooklyn (over DFS, or one of the Cam's)
Toronto (over Gary Trent)
Charlotte (over whomever is not Ball, Miller, Bridges or Williams)
Detroit (over Ausar)
OKC (over Giddey)
Phoenix (over Royce)
Sacramento (over Barnes)
Dallas (better than every guard or forward on that team save Luka and Kyrie)
Lakers (he's the 3rd best player on that team)
Warriors (over Podziemski)
Houston (over Brooks)
Utah (easily the best SF on the roster)
Memphis (he's the 4th best player behind Morant, Bane and JJJ)
Portland (he starts at forward alongside Grant)
San Antonio (he's the 2nd or 3rd best player on the team behind Wemby and maybe Vassell)

Me might not start for:
Boston
Denver
New Orleans
Cleveland (he is better than Strus/Wade/Okoro, but perhaps not a better fit)
New York (he is better than Divincenzo, but perhaps not a better fit)
Clippers (but might take Powell's spot)