T.J. and Rasho

[bballCT]

Hi, Raps fan here.

One thing you will notice in the upcoming season is the chemistry between Rasho and T.J. when they are both on the floor. Rasha has a high bball IQ when it comes to moving without the ball in the post or off the pick and Roll.

T.J. has exceptional court vision and knows how find people that move well, Rasho being one of them. Hopefully they both share some time throughout the season, youI'd get to see their 2-man game, it's a thing of beauty.

All the best for the upcoming season!

[HicksvsKnicks08]

Thanks for the post. I have an erie feeling JO is going to be a BEAST for you guys

[23artest23]

I'm quite anxious to see T.J. and I suppose a bit to see Rasho as well. I say that because T.J. is expected to play a much larger role but I'll be one of the first to come around to Rasho if he can produce. T.J has the ability to alter how all of our players produce and I am quite ready to see what comes of it. T.J. is very quick, much quicker than any recent Pacer, and I could see that being quite valuable to some of our wing players who tend to get downcourt quick as well.

[freeman]

There is a big chance that T.J. will have his breakthrough this year. Given the lead role and the playing time, he will surely flourish under Obie.
I also think Rasho would be Indiana's starting center. He had a streak of good games last season, i picked him up in my fantasy league team.
I am excited to see the new Pacers on the court.
Hope we can have TJ and Jack at the same time, like what New Orleans did in Paul and Pargo - too fast and furious.

[mizzoupacers]

I've picked Rasho for fantasy league teams in the past too; he is one of those guys who doesn't really do anything to hurt you--he shoots for pretty good pcts. and doesn't commit many turnovers--while sometimes putting up fairly helpful scoring/rebounding/shot-blocking numbers. BUT...that's IF he gets to play.

I don't think I had Nesterovic on my team last year, but out of curiosity I looked up his game logs from last season. (Good Lord but I am good at wasting time on the Internet!) For Toronto last year, he had only five games before March 1 in which he played 25 minutes or more. But from March 1 on, he had 20 regular-season games in which he played 25 minutes or more; 13 of those 20 games he played 30 minutes or more (i.e. starter's minutes). His averages in those 20 games were 16.2 points and 7.7 rebounds. Compared to what the Pacers have had lately, I will gladly take 16.2/7.7 from our starting center, unless it is accompanied by horrendous defense. I've never watched Rasho that closely, but my impressions are that his defense is average, but not horrendous. So basically I'd be fine with seeing him start for us.

A red flag, though: Toronto made the playoffs last year, and in the postseason Rasho played 36 minutes in Game 1 against Orlando and put up his averages for games of 30+ minutes: 16 points, 8 rebounds. Then in the remaining games he played 5, 10, 17, and 9 minutes. I wasn't following the Toronto-Orlando series closely and have no idea why he got benched after Game 1, but it doesn't look good on paper. Maybe some of our visiting Raptors fans can fill us in on what happened.

[user name]

Actually Rasho's defense is his strongest point. You will be very happy with a guy who understands the defense and helps and directs his teammates. For the Raptors, he was compared to the traffic cop directing the defense. He alters alot of shots, even if they don't get blocked.

On offense, Rasho does not take bad shots. He has had the highest FG% on the Raptors both seasons he spent there. He sets good screens and has a soft touch and a nice mid-range shot.

As to March and April, Bosh was hurt and Rasho's minutes expanded and he played so well they continued even after Bosh came back. Last season he was unfortunately often the victim of the "forcing" of Andrea Bargnani into the line-up, which resulted in his very uneven minutes.

Rasho and TJ do play very well together on offense. They read each other well and TJ knows when Rasho will roll to the basket and get a nice open look. TJ has said something along the lines that you have to feed the big man occasionally to show your appreciation for all he does for you.

[MillerTime101]

Rasho got benched because he was not a good matchup against Orlando. Orlando played Dwight and a bunch of shooters, they used Bosh to guard Dwight so Rasho was too slow to guard Rashard Lewis, thats why he didnt play.

Also Rasho's defense is above average IMO, he is very fundamentally sound and is always in good position. He is a guy that does the little things and very rarely makes a bad play or is caught out of position. He is a very solid player.

He has an underrated game offensively, he has this 14 foot jumper from the baseline that is absolutely money and he has a great touch at the rim, one of the better centers and finishing in close. The only knock on him is that he is not overly physical, maybe a little Jeff Foster influence could be just what he needs.

[mizzoupacers]

Well those are encouraging comments--in a way they sound kind of similar to what Pacers fans generally say about Foster, that he is a smart, underrated player you have to watch closely and for a long time to fully appreciate how much he contributes, etc. etc.

If Rasho is really as good on defense as you say, then I don't see how he doesn't start for us, since we know that Foster, God love him, is never going to average 16 points a game no matter how many minutes he gets. (I would love to see how many rebounds per game Foster would average if he ever got 30 minutes per game, though.)

Except I guess Rasho wouldn't start when we play Orlando and they break out their Howard/Lewis frontcourt...for those games we would start Granger at center and have him wear a kryptonite-studded headband.

[MillerTime101]

Haha I dont know about Granger being matched up with Howard, he could get hurt. Rasho is a good defender but like I mentioned he is a little on the soft side when it comes to rebounding and blocking out. Foster is much better in this area, Rasho is more of a "tap the ball to a teammate" kind of center rather then Foster who is just determined to get the ball. I wouldnt have a problem with either starting. I think you can throw Hibbert into the mix too, dont be surprised if he is starting by the end of the year.

[flipside21]

Rasho actually did a really good job defending Dwight during the season . . . Sam came out with a Rasho / Bosh / Bargnani front line in game 1 and 2 and it failed so miserably that he went away from it completely and Rasho ended up with very few minutes.

I'm actually a Mitchel supporter - but it was basically a hack coaching move - at which point he said "oh crap!" and went with Bargnani, praying that he stepped up - because without it, we were overmatched.

I'm *REALLY* going to miss Rasho - he is one of the least frustrating players I have ever seen - I never felt like he shouldn't be on the floor. The Raptors would have been a significantly better team if he was getting 34 minutes a night.

[joeshmoe]

I loved watching TJ and Rasho together and TJ and Kapono together. Kapono and Rasho are two of the least athletic players in the game, but they just know how to play with TJ. I think it is the high basketball IQ guys that can really take advantage of TJ's ability to get them open looks.

[Scoot McGroot]

Sounds good for Dunleavy then.

[user name]

I would not count on Rasho scoring 16 ppg for the Pacers because I really do not see how he will even touch the ball enough on offense to do that. What he will do is shoot a good percentage and not take any bad shots.

As to rebounding, he is not as good of an actual rebounder as Jeff, but he does box out very well. It is apparent that he was taught to box out first and go for the rebound second. He does tip balls out that he can not actually grab. I think he helps a team be a better rebounding team even if he himself personally does not grab that many rebounds. If you check stats, the guy he guards often gets below his average number of rebounds when played by Rasho.

I think the main thing with Rasho is that he plays within his game and does not force things.

In the locker room, he also is a true professional who works hard and truly believes in the team first concept. He will do whatever the coach asks of him to try to contribute to his team's success. He also is a funny guy- which seems to surprise alot of people.

[raptorsfan]

two class act players, im kinda dissapointed that we gave up rasho but we got J.O so its all good

[Wizop]

if you're right that TJ brings out the best in smart players that move without the ball, I'm with Scoot. play Mike not Rasho on your fantasy team. yes, I know Granger out scored Mike at the end of last year, but he just put the bit between his teeth down the stretch and went for the hoop. he'll come back to a more team oriented game this fall and Mike will start matching him again.

and Troy will also benefit from TJ. I look for Rasho, Jeff, and Troy to all get 28 to 30 minutes a game. that leaves 10 or 12 for Hibbert and if he's able to earn more than that as a rookie, we got a steal. our bigs will put up better numbers with JO gone.

[joew8302]

You can never have too many smart, unselfish basketball players on a team, ala Dunleavy. If Rasho turns out to be a smart player and a good/willing passer like Mike I will be thrilled.

[Eindar]

Haven't seen Rasho since his days with the Spurs, but really liked what he did there. Not flashy, didn't do any one thing extremely well, but he seemed to be very well-rounded. Challenged shots without fouling, and when he blocked them, they were of the Bill Russell "tip it to a teammate" variety as opposed to the "block it into the third row so I can pound my chest" JO/early Shaq variety.

One other thing: you know he's a solid player if he managed to start for Pop for that long without frustrating him. I think he'll fit very well into our defense. One thing I haven't really seen from him is that face up jumper he's supposed to have. If he can produce it and give us 12-16 ppg, I could definitely see us ending games with Rasho and Foster at C and PF, playing efficient ball and gobbling up rebounds for extra shot opportunities.

I'm really excited to see TJ provide the "penetrator" role that AI gave OBrien in Philly and Paul Pierce gave him in Boston. Obie is used to playing without a huge post presence, he just need a really good slasher who can also dish. TJ is going to make his offense run very well, and I'm hoping he's finally got guys on his roster that are smart enough to grasp the defensive concepts.

[StephenJackson]

Haven't seen Rasho since his days with the Spurs, but really liked what he did there. Not flashy, didn't do any one thing extremely well, but he seemed to be very well-rounded. Challenged shots without fouling, and when he blocked them, they were of the Bill Russell "tip it to a teammate" variety as opposed to the "block it into the third row so I can pound my chest" JO/early Shaq variety.

One other thing: you know he's a solid player if he managed to start for Pop for that long without frustrating him. I think he'll fit very well into our defense. One thing I haven't really seen from him is that face up jumper he's supposed to have. If he can produce it and give us 12-16 ppg, I could definitely see us ending games with Rasho and Foster at C and PF, playing efficient ball and gobbling up rebounds for extra shot opportunities.

I'm really excited to see TJ provide the "penetrator" role that AI gave OBrien in Philly and Paul Pierce gave him in Boston. Obie is used to playing without a huge post presence, he just need a really good slasher who can also dish. TJ is going to make his offense run very well, and I'm hoping he's finally got guys on his roster that are smart enough to grasp the defensive concepts.

I think Rasho at 12-16 ppg is a bit of a stretch. I expect him to be at like 8-10 ppg, which is perfectly fine. I assume he'll be splitting a lot of time between Foster/Hibbert.