Help the Raps Find a Young Center?

[Texas Chuck]

although I view the ill-fitting roster as more "mediocre" than "really bad" on paper.

Fair enough.

To clarify I find the talent mediocre. I find the roster composition really bad on paper. There are good players here, but their strengths and weaknesses don't seem to match to elevate the team. On paper this looks like a really poor offensive team and I don't think they have the perimeter defenders to offset that.

Maybe they surprise me and can fight for a playin spot, but I wish they'd just blow this thing up, only for real this time. Instead of selling off guys for worse young guys and then still having a taxed out roster that doesn't make sense. Better off having kept Siakam/OG/FVV. That would still be a playoff team for sure in the East.

[Godaddycurse]

although I view the ill-fitting roster as more "mediocre" than "really bad" on paper.

Fair enough.

To clarify I find the talent mediocre. I find the roster composition really bad on paper. There are good players here, but their strengths and weaknesses don't seem to match to elevate the team. On paper this looks like a really poor offensive team and I don't think they have the perimeter defenders to offset that.

Maybe they surprise me and can fight for a playin spot, but I wish they'd just blow this thing up, only for real this time. Instead of selling off guys for worse young guys and then still having a taxed out roster that doesn't make sense. Better off having kept Siakam/OG/FVV. That would still be a playoff team for sure in the East.

Going to need some Dark(o) magic to make this lineup worth more than the sum of its parts. Thankfully we own all our picks if it doesn't work out.

[oldncreaky]

although I view the ill-fitting roster as more "mediocre" than "really bad" on paper.

Fair enough.

To clarify I find the talent mediocre. I find the roster composition really bad on paper. There are good players here, but their strengths and weaknesses don't seem to match to elevate the team. On paper this looks like a really poor offensive team and I don't think they have the perimeter defenders to offset that.

Maybe they surprise me and can fight for a playin spot, but I wish they'd just blow this thing up, only for real this time. Instead of selling off guys for worse young guys and then still having a taxed out roster that doesn't make sense. Better off having kept Siakam/OG/FVV. That would still be a playoff team for sure in the East.

Going to need some Dark(o) magic to make this lineup worth more than the sum of its parts. Thankfully we own all our picks if it doesn't work out.

I'm not optimistic about Darko magic; while he's been fine from a vibes perspective, I haven't seen anything that makes me think he will coach the team to be better than the sum of its parts. Darko has now 2 straight seasons of where the team under-performed its talent in the first half due to *pick-your-narrative-reasons* -- and then the team won too much after the TDL for a successful tank!

Both the C position (Poeltl/Mamu/Chomche) and PG position (IQ/Shead/Hepburn) are underwhelming. I think you can get away with a "meh" C rotation, but not PG, and I don't think there is a quick fix given the cap sheet. But with PHI, BOS, MIL, MIA and CHI all having their issues and looking thoroughly medicocre to my eyes, it really wouldn't take much going right for the Raptors to surprise enough to make the playoffs.

[babyjax13]

If Raptors trade for a center, It has to be one that can play as a PF, right? Poetl never plays more than 30 minutes a game, but he is signed for the rest of his life. So, young, playable at PF, should have 2 years at least in its contract(considering Raptors money situation).

So basically Filipowski? Not sure you can get him without adding a first

Filipowski really doesn't look like a full time center, either. Maybe that's what they want, but I think we value him highly. To me, that descriptions screams Jalen Smith.

Jalen Smith has zero upside, no? He is what he is. I thought the idea of the thread was to get someone to take over for Poetl with time. But I could be wrong.

I like Filipowski upside, was a good steal this last draft. I also like Jalen Smith as a 20min center/pf backup

I was just quoting you saying that he should be able to play PF and stretch the court.

I don't think any team is going to trade a young 5 who can shoot and pass for what Toronto is likely to trade. RE: Filipowski, he can play some center but he really is a power forward and should be mostly played there. I don't see us trading him for anything reasonable, he is one of the most promising players on the roster and I think he has quite a bit of upside, especially offensively. Being mentored by Love and Lauri is going to be huge for him.

[tcheco]

Filipowski really doesn't look like a full time center, either. Maybe that's what they want, but I think we value him highly. To me, that descriptions screams Jalen Smith.

Jalen Smith has zero upside, no? He is what he is. I thought the idea of the thread was to get someone to take over for Poetl with time. But I could be wrong.

I like Filipowski upside, was a good steal this last draft. I also like Jalen Smith as a 20min center/pf backup

I was just quoting you saying that he should be able to play PF and stretch the court.

I don't think any team is going to trade a young 5 who can shoot and pass for what Toronto is likely to trade. RE: Filipowski, he can play some center but he really is a power forward and should be mostly played there. I don't see us trading him for anything reasonable, he is one of the most promising players on the roster and I think he has quite a bit of upside, especially offensively. Being mentored by Love and Lauri is going to be huge for him.

Havent watched him enough, but some sites list him as a center, so my bad on this one. I like his upside a lot, sloting at PF diminishes my concern of him when I saw his blocks numbers, but 6 rebounds in 20 minutes as a rookie playing with Collins, Lauri and Kessler is good. You guys got a steal

[babyjax13]

Jalen Smith has zero upside, no? He is what he is. I thought the idea of the thread was to get someone to take over for Poetl with time. But I could be wrong.

I like Filipowski upside, was a good steal this last draft. I also like Jalen Smith as a 20min center/pf backup

I was just quoting you saying that he should be able to play PF and stretch the court.

I don't think any team is going to trade a young 5 who can shoot and pass for what Toronto is likely to trade. RE: Filipowski, he can play some center but he really is a power forward and should be mostly played there. I don't see us trading him for anything reasonable, he is one of the most promising players on the roster and I think he has quite a bit of upside, especially offensively. Being mentored by Love and Lauri is going to be huge for him.

Havent watched him enough, but some sites list him as a center, so my bad on this one. I like his upside a lot, sloting at PF diminishes my concern of him when I saw his blocks numbers, but 6 rebounds in 20 minutes as a rookie playing with Collins, Lauri and Kessler is good. You guys got a steal

All good. He has played some center, but I expect much less of that this season, especially with how good Nurkic has been in preseason.