Official Play-in Thread - Our Play-in Destiny is in our Hands

[Deadpool Raptor]

Raptors win! I LOVE seeing this team win

[PushDaRock]

Come on guys! We got this! We'll show the rest of the league who the 20th best team is!

every great team is built with a solid foundation brick by brick

[Tripod]

Come on guys! We got this! We'll show the rest of the league who the 20th best team is!

every great team is built with a solid foundation brick by brick

There was lots of bricking despite the win.

[Nebuchadnezzar]

Come on guys! We got this! We'll show the rest of the league who the 20th best team is!

every great team is built with a solid foundation brick by brick

There was lots of bricking despite the win.

The only bricks are from the other team homie - second best Defensive rating in the league over the past 7

[PushDaRock]

Come on guys! We got this! We'll show the rest of the league who the 20th best team is!

every great team is built with a solid foundation brick by brick

There was lots of bricking despite the win.

that's what happens when you are home and build a winning culture.

[Nebuchadnezzar]

Come on guys! We got this! We'll show the rest of the league who the 20th best team is!

every great team is built with a solid foundation brick by brick

If the raptors do make the play-in after everything that goes they'll be far better than the 20th team in the league lol there's this thing called power rankings...familiar?

[Appostis]

Come on guys! We got this! We'll show the rest of the league who the 20th best team is!

every great team is built with a solid foundation brick by brick

If the raptors do make the play-in after everything that goes they'll be far better than the 20th team in the league lol there's this thing called power rankings...familiar?

No they wouldn't be..

[djsunyc]

so getting back to the topic - can we make the play-in?

we have 36 games left.

the hawks are 9th place and a full 8 games ahead of us. catching them would take an absolute miracle.
sixers are 4 games ahead of us in 11th place. we play them 3 more times.
bulls are 5.5 games ahead of us in 10th place. we play them 3 more times.

our schedule until the all star break:
@was, chi, lac, nyk, mem (b2b), @okc, @hou, @phi, cle (b2b)

bulls schedule until the break:
@bos, @tor, @det, mia, @min (b2b), gsw, det, det (b2b)

bulls have a tough schedule but ours is even tougher. chances are super duper low at the moment and i would go so far as to say that if we don't beat the bulls on friday, then there's zero shot.

[ropjhk]

so getting back to the topic - can we make the play-in?

we have 36 games left.

the hawks are 9th place and a full 8 games ahead of us. catching them would take an absolute miracle.
sixers are 4 games ahead of us in 11th place. we play them 3 more times.
bulls are 5.5 games ahead of us in 10th place. we play them 3 more times.

our schedule until the all star break:
@was, chi, lac, nyk, mem (b2b), @okc, @hou, @phi, cle (b2b)

bulls schedule until the break:
@bos, @tor, @det, mia, @min (b2b), gsw, det, det (b2b)

bulls have a tough schedule but ours is even tougher. chances are super duper low at the moment and i would go so far as to say that if we don't beat the bulls on friday, then there's zero shot.

What if the Bulls end up selling the farm? There's still a chance they might decide to tank after the deadline.

[Jerry Lucas]

Surest predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour (in terms of whether or not Masai will kill the tank at the trade deadline).

Raptors had a record of 26-30 when they made the Poeltl trade in 2023. At the time they were the 10th seed in the East (and 9th in the tank standings) with 26 games left to play, they were neck and neck with the 11 seed Wizards, half a game behind the 9th seed Bulls for a home play-in game (MLSE board loves that), and they also had an easy schedule remaining down the stretch.

Right now we are 14-32 with 5 games left until the trade deadline. We are currently the 12th seed in the East (and 6th in the tank standings), 5.5 games behind the 10th seed Bulls and 8 games behind the 9th seed Hawks.

The chances of a play-in push are basically slim-to none here. When you see how different the 2 situations are, there should be almost no fear that Masai will kill the tank, and the safer guess is the Raptors will pull late season shenanigans similar to their early season shenanigans (it was clear they were going to weaponize "injuries" since before the season even started to me).

There's actually a good case to be made IMO that this thread should be locked lol.

[MEDIC]

I am alll in on Scottie's first MVP season.

[Psubs]

Bruce Brown playing well has the Raptors playing really well. If he wants an extension around $60 million for 4 years, I give it. I think he could be 6th man of the year.

Should really trade him if you don't want to make the play-in. Same for Boucher.

Still trade Olynyk and Davion.

[Nebuchadnezzar]

every great team is built with a solid foundation brick by brick

If the raptors do make the play-in after everything that goes they'll be far better than the 20th team in the league lol there's this thing called power rankings...familiar?

No they wouldn't be..

Sure they would - their record would be quite a bit over 500 from the time they started winning, not sure what you are misunderstanding here.

[YogurtProducer]

Is this a serious thread or not?
Genuinely interested in knowing how many people would actually want us to make the play in

Like anything in the world, every avenue would have at least some support.

I took this thread as somewhat sarcastic, but it really isn't the worst thing to have a place to just discuss whats happening. Stuff like Boucher balling out is not good for a rebuild and ultimately long-term makes zero difference, but it is interesting enough to see a 32-year old playing the best ball of his career.

Wild how different of a player he is when the 3 is dropping

[YogurtProducer]

every great team is built with a solid foundation brick by brick

If the raptors do make the play-in after everything that goes they'll be far better than the 20th team in the league lol there's this thing called power rankings...familiar?

No they wouldn't be..

I mean if we are being honest, if a team that was 8-31 at one point managed to turn their season around enough to make the play-in, they would not be viewed in the same light as a 9th/10th seed who was on a 37-40ish win pace all season long.

The 10 seed is probably a 35 win threshold to reach to make it. A team starting 8-31 would mean finishing the season 27-16 pace (a season long 52 win pace). I'd say by that point teams would be more worried about playing a team that finished the season that hot than say the Hawks or Pistons who might win 41 games, but likely won't be that "hot".

Especially since that would mean likely we stayed relatively healthy to. This team while healthy is certainly better than a 10th seed team, which is why the idea of us being hurt and resting all year and adding a top pick to a decent core group is enticing.

[Los_29]

Surest predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour (in terms of whether or not Masai will kill the tank at the trade deadline).

Raptors had a record of 19-33 when they made the Poeltl trade in 2023. At the time they were the 12th seed in the East (and 7th in the tank standings) with 30 games left to play, 4 games behind the 10th seed Hawks and 6 games behind the 9th seed Bulls. They also had an easy schedule remaining down the stretch.

Right now we are 14-32 with 5 games left until the trade deadline and 36 games left in the regular season. We are currently the 12th seed in the East (and 6th in the tank standings), 5.5 games behind the 10th seed Bulls and 8 games behind the 9th seed Hawks. According to Tankathon we have the easiest remaining SOS in the league.

Depending on how these next 5 games before the deadline go, we could be in an eerily similar situation to 2023 (some differences but still could be eerily similar).

Raptors had a record of 26-30 when they made the Poeltl trade. 10th in the East. Where did you get 19-33? We had that record last year in February but Poeltl was not acquired last year. He was acquired in 2023.

[Jerry Lucas]

Surest predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour (in terms of whether or not Masai will kill the tank at the trade deadline).

Raptors had a record of 19-33 when they made the Poeltl trade in 2023. At the time they were the 12th seed in the East (and 7th in the tank standings) with 30 games left to play, 4 games behind the 10th seed Hawks and 6 games behind the 9th seed Bulls. They also had an easy schedule remaining down the stretch.

Right now we are 14-32 with 5 games left until the trade deadline and 36 games left in the regular season. We are currently the 12th seed in the East (and 6th in the tank standings), 5.5 games behind the 10th seed Bulls and 8 games behind the 9th seed Hawks. According to Tankathon we have the easiest remaining SOS in the league.

Depending on how these next 5 games before the deadline go, we could be in an eerily similar situation to 2023 (some differences but still could be eerily similar).

Raptors had a record of 26-30 when they made the Poeltl trade. 10th in the East. Where did you get 19-33? We had that record last year in February but Poeltl was not acquired last year. He was acquired in 2023.

My mistake, you're correct on that one. I wish NBA had standings by date on their own website like the NHL does. On other websites it's an eye sore to sift through.

[wegotthabeet]

Surest predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour (in terms of whether or not Masai will kill the tank at the trade deadline).

Raptors had a record of 19-33 when they made the Poeltl trade in 2023. At the time they were the 12th seed in the East (and 7th in the tank standings) with 30 games left to play, 4 games behind the 10th seed Hawks and 6 games behind the 9th seed Bulls. They also had an easy schedule remaining down the stretch.

Right now we are 14-32 with 5 games left until the trade deadline and 36 games left in the regular season. We are currently the 12th seed in the East (and 6th in the tank standings), 5.5 games behind the 10th seed Bulls and 8 games behind the 9th seed Hawks. According to Tankathon we have the easiest remaining SOS in the league.

Depending on how these next 5 games before the deadline go, we could be in an eerily similar situation to 2023 (some differences but still could be eerily similar).

Raptors had a record of 26-30 when they made the Poeltl trade. 10th in the East. Where did you get 19-33? We had that record last year in February but Poeltl was not acquired last year. He was acquired in 2023.

My mistake, you're correct on that one. I wish NBA had standings by date on their own website like the NHL does. On other websites it's an eye sore to sift through.

Here:

https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2023_standings_by_date_eastern_conference.html

[Duffman100]

.

.

I'm actually relieved to see couple of retired mods dispensing rational thought in here, instead of some of the active mods, behaving like children / trolling the faction of posters reasonably wanting a high draft pick in 2025 to pair with Scottie.

You're lecturing us on behaving like a child / troll?

[Los_29]

.

.

I'm actually relieved to see couple of retired mods dispensing rational thought in here, instead of some of the active mods, behaving like children / trolling the faction of posters reasonably wanting a high draft pick in 2025 to pair with Scottie.

You're lecturing us on behaving like a child / troll?

I thought that was pretty funny considering he openly admitted to trolling just a few months ago. Lol.