Aaron Holiday

[Indy07]

I hear ya. I'm sure the top 4 in the east is going to change a million times before the end of the season.

We usually run out a similar or shorter rotation than PHI. We have a huge advantage of their back half bench players like Muscala, Shamet, and Korkmaz, but as we saw last year, they will be active in the buy-out market and fix this problem really quickly.

They've also been staggering minutes the last 5-10 games or to make sure 1 or 2 of Butler, Embiid and Simmons is always on the floor. It's been working pretty well against some good teams..

I'm interested to see how this works against our bench mob, especially from a +/- perspective.

[pacers33granger]

-They have the better superstar.
-They are better at PG & PF.
-They have far greater depth and lineup flexibility.
-They are crazy long and athletic and they know how to use this ability in ways that have historically made us very uncomfortable (see last year's playoffs w/ double teams or last game against TOR w/ Danny G. & Kawhi pressuring Oladipo).
-They have legitimately 4 defenders (OG / Kawhi / DG / Siakam) who can either switch on to Oladipo w/ no issues or guard him straight up and give him problems

Not that I necessarily disagree overall, but to play devil's advocate a bit here:

- Their PG has some durability issues and their backups are good, but not starters at all
- Dipo is much better than last year at reacting to double teams
- We have a better set of bigs
- Lowry/DG are their only real knockdown shooters, everyone else is pretty streaky
- Nurse is still a rookie head coach
- They have no one who can legitimately guard Turner if his offense is going

I'd also argue we have better depth. I'll take Domas/Tyreke/CoJo/Doug over JV/FVV/Wright/OG any day and our 10-11 guys are likely better as well. Powell and Miles have not been factors this year (nor has OG really).

And ultimately, time will tell if their record holds up that well towards the end of the year. They've got several guys that teams were unsure how to prepare for early in the season. Now that there's some tape, guys like Siakim could hit a bit of a wall.

[Indy07]

I've watched a ton of raptors games this year and I think they are #1/#2 best team in the league. They've done pretty well without Lowry - something like 8-2 with Lowry out but Kawhi in.

I recognize you're playing devil's advocate, but my counters would be:

-I think last night showed that their bench and depth is better. I just think it provides them with a level of flexibility and line-up options that ours doesn't.

Powell has been utilized the right way this year and you can see it in his recent game log. He had been forced into playing the 3&D role where he stood in a corner all possession. That's not his game.

OG isn't yet 12 months removed from doing an admirable job w/ the lead assignment of guarding LeBron. In the middle of his lack of progress this year, it's easy to forget his moments locking up Harden and Westbrook last year (Go IU).

-All 4 key bigs - Ibaka / Sabonis / Turner / Siakam - are playing at a high level this year. However, I'm not so sure I wouldn't Siakam above everyone going forward.

He's almost as efficient as Sabonis, can guard 1-5, and is the best two-way player of the group. He can create his own shot, especially in transition. He's not hitting a wall and the scouting on him doesn't matter. If it did, everyone would know he has 1 move (Spin move off dribble into lane). It doesn't matter - he's that good.

-They can definitely shoot. FVV is a career 40% 3P shooter and Kawhi is a 38% guy. Siakam is hitting ≥40% off corner 3's. Kawhi is also an off-the-dribble creator like Oladipo. I would consider both legit Vic and Kawhi 3P threats despite %s.

-Turner's recent play has been great but I'm not sure what matchup problems we are talking about. Turner's offense remains heavily reliant on being assisted - even in December.

Like I originally said, I just don't see how we can compete without making a significant roster move.

[Ruaidri]

So what reasonable trade can we make to get closer to Toronto?