Post Game Thoughts. Raptors.

[coolcono]

I was going to watch the game, but I had a migraine come on and needed to sleep it off. They Won?

[Calinks]

Props to Rubio for being a reliable shooter tonight.
Props to Jaden for bringing solid defense.
Props to Vanderbilt for stepping up as a starter and doing well.
Probs to Beasley for once again being that offensive rock and keeping us in the game by nailing all those threes.

[_AIJ_]

Best night was Okogie playing only 7 mins. Should be DNP but id take that

[K4P]

Rubio being a shooting threat is legit a gamechanger.

[Mcfale313]

Reason we won:
Okogie only played 7 minutes

Reason it was close game:
Okogie played 7 minutes

[TRik]

Props to Rubio for being a reliable shooter tonight.
Props to Jaden for bringing solid defense.
Props to Vanderbilt for stepping up as a starter and doing well.
Probs to Beasley for once again being that offensive rock and keeping us in the game by nailing all those threes.

Props to Saunders for..........uhhh.......for........

[Killboard]

Refs sucked big time but the team played well enough to overcome that.
The Raptors were in a 10-5 stretch coming into this game.
Ant (+18) and McDaniels (+11) being the team best it's encouraging to see.
It was Ant 10 game as starter. He is averaging twice as many assists and half the turnovers, as well as rebounding better and a bump up of 7 points in TS% against better competition.
McDaniels is 2nd in net rating (+2.6) the last 10 games in 200 minutes (with almost not trash time and a lot of time against starters).
It was a good win. Hopefully they can get some momentum going.

[shrink]

I was going to watch the game, but I had a migraine come on and needed to sleep it off. They Won?

Usually watching the game causes migraines. But not tonight!

[Dewey]

If ANT can sharpen up his 3-pointer, he’s gonna continue to prove himself a legit NBA starter.

Beasley has a nice game.

McD or JV >> Okogie alongside KAT.

Rubio hitting some shots shows why DLo could bring a lot to the team if he ever stops making himself bigger than the team.

[winforlose]

Ryan needs to learn to take a fu***** timeout to advance the ball. Beasley being trapped should never have happened. For Fu**s sake we had two timeouts and 11 seconds on the clock.

Towns needs more touch’s and more shots. Edwards is ball hogging and causing more harm than good. I see the kid has potential and I understand his game will improve over time, but right now Towns should be taking the most shots in a game followed by Beasley.

Rubio and Vando showed up tonight. That said, they need to be capable of this consistently. Vando should be scoring 8-10 a game on putbacks and shots within 5 feet. Rubio needs to fix his shot or stop shooting. Tonight it dropped but most nights not so much.

[_AIJ_]

^Ant played a great game. KAt was double teamed all game long. Whats he gonna do?

[Calinks]

As long as we keep relying on 1-3 year players to have major roles on this team, we are going to be let down. Vando was good tonight but will probably flop in the next. They don't know how to be consistent. Even out 24-year-olds still struggle with that at times. I really hope Rosas brings in a vet PF and shooter or two.

[TheDominator273]

Holy crap the refs were god awful all night. Just super inconsistent with the calls they were giving.

Wolves did everything they could to lose this one, twice in the 4th we had stretches of 4 turnovers in 7 possessions. Glad we were able to pull it out but man that was an ugly game.

[Klomp]

"I've told Ryan (Saunders), we need to get the ball in Ant's hands more often." -Karl-Anthony Towns

[winforlose]

"I've told Ryan (Saunders), we need to get the ball in Ant's hands more often." -Karl-Anthony Towns

Rubio 13 shots, Ant 15, Beasley 13, KAT 11. Am I the only person who sees something wrong with this?

[SCTwins]

We have some talent on this team. Its just a matter of fit now.

KAT, Ant, Beaz, Jaden are the pieces I would focus building around.

Jaden is just impressive, especially for his age and size. I think we really found a gem with this kid. I can't wait to see what he looks like next year. He already understands his role and rarely, if ever, tries to do too much. If he comes back with some size, he will be a massive help on both ends with KAT.

[Klomp]

The two ballhandlers thing is something I've seen pushed a lot this year. Lineups have been conveying it too. One thing seems evident though with that.....as good of a player as he is, I'm not sure they view Beasley as a ball handler. Started thinking about this more since the lineup change of Edwards with the starters, even more so tonight when I saw the McLaughlin/Nowell/Beasley grouping.

I do like that he's improving his assist numbers. 6 tonight. Averaging 4 per game over last 5 games. Signs of growth?

[winforlose]

We have some talent on this team. Its just a matter of fit now.

KAT, Ant, Beaz, Jaden are the pieces I would focus building around.

Jaden is just impressive, especially for his age and size. I think we really found a gem with this kid. I can't wait to see what he looks like next year. He already understands his role and rarely, if ever, tries to do too much. If he comes back with some size, he will be a massive help on both ends with KAT.

Your missing some names. Nowell has a ton of upside. He is raw as can be, but he has Beasley level scoring potential, and his defensive potential is somewhere between as good or better than Beasley. Beasley will likely always be better because of his motor and his dedication to the work (working out, and winners hunger,) but Nowell is still quite valuable moving forward.

Naz needs to improve in several areas, but his deep threat combined with post moves is enough to make him a decent piece moving forward. With proper coaching and development he is at least as good as half of the backup centers in the NBA, and he can play with KAT.

Culver is also someone with potential. Unlike Okogie who is in his third year and has failed to improve his offense, Culver is in his second year and had a rather unusual first season (Covid cancelled early.) Culver has show glimpses of a solid backup 3. Again he needs development just like Nowell and Naz.

Okogie is not on my list until his shot improves. He also is not good enough at reading opposing defense or recovering from a screen. He has potential but has not lived up to it. Also worth noting that he is excellent at drive and kick but needs a scheme to help him execute it better. Too often he goes in with no one to kick to and that is as much Ryan’s fault as it is his own poor planning.

[Killboard]

"I've told Ryan (Saunders), we need to get the ball in Ant's hands more often." -Karl-Anthony Towns

Rubio 13 shots, Ant 15, Beasley 13, KAT 11. Am I the only person who sees something wrong with this?

KAT passed on several shots because he was getting doubled teamed or even fouled when he wanted to drive of the pump fakes. This time Okogie didn't play and Rubio made his open 3's. He still is rusty even if the team is a lot better with him out there.

[SCTwins]

We have some talent on this team. Its just a matter of fit now.

KAT, Ant, Beaz, Jaden are the pieces I would focus building around.

Jaden is just impressive, especially for his age and size. I think we really found a gem with this kid. I can't wait to see what he looks like next year. He already understands his role and rarely, if ever, tries to do too much. If he comes back with some size, he will be a massive help on both ends with KAT.

Your missing some names. Nowell has a ton of upside. He is raw as can be, but he has Beasley level scoring potential, and his defensive potential is somewhere between as good or better than Beasley. Beasley will likely always be better because of his motor and his dedication to the work (working out, and winners hunger,) but Nowell is still quite valuable moving forward.

Naz needs to improve in several areas, but his deep threat combined with post moves is enough to make him a decent piece moving forward. With proper coaching and development he is at least as good as half of the backup centers in the NBA, and he can play with KAT.

Culver is also someone with potential. Unlike Okogie who is in his third year and has failed to improve his offense, Culver is in his second year and had a rather unusual first season (Covid cancelled early.) Culver has show glimpses of a solid backup 3. Again he needs development just like Nowell and Naz.

Okogie is not on my list until his shot improves. He also is not good enough at reading opposing defense or recovering from a screen. He has potential but has not lived up to it. Also worth noting that he is excellent at drive and kick but needs a scheme to help him execute it better. Too often he goes in with no one to kick to and that is as much Ryan’s fault as it is his own poor planning.

I agree man. Those 4 are just my "untouchables" right now. Of course, anyone can be traded for the right price, but those would be hard to pry away.

Naz, Vandy, Nowell, Culver, J-Mac are all solid bench pieces for now.

If somehow we can work D'Lo into the starting 5 without taking the ball away from Ant too much, I think we have something. But my gut feeling on the chances of that happening is about slim to none. I think the best fit for D'Lo would be coming off the bench with a green light, but I doubt he would ever accept that role here.

If Rubio could shoot this well every game(or even close to it), he'd be the perfect PG next to Ant and Beaz. I also doubt that is possible.

I have been out on Okogie for a long time. 3 years in and he can't be trusted to dribble or shoot at ALL. That's not a great combo if you're playing basketball.