Imagine if Precious/Banton had been a top 10 pick...

[Wannabe MEP]

There are 38 units in the NBA that have played at least 20 minutes so far. This is the best one by both defensive rating and net rating:

FVV-Trent-OG-Siakam-Precious . . 138.1 . . 61.0 . . +77.1

[DreamTeam09]

Really it's Barnes who should come off the bench but y'all don't wanna say it. Especially if y'all want him to be a scorer, then coming off the bench would be the better role for him.

I like our starting 5 tho neway. It really doesn't matter, the fact that we have internal options is amazing

[Ell Curry]

Really it's Barnes who should come off the bench but y'all don't wanna say it. Especially if y'all want him to be a scorer, then coming off the bench would be the better role for him.

I like our starting 5 tho neway. It really doesn't matter, the fact that we have internal options is amazing

I don't think is crazy because OG and Trent might be offended and Scottie did it in college and is still young and he needs to be more aggressive on O for us anyways to be the #2 guy here unless we make a huge trade, and that's commonly done off the bench or with bench units anyways early in guys careers when they're not the #1 right away.

[Wannabe MEP]

Really it's Barnes who should come off the bench but y'all don't wanna say it. Especially if y'all want him to be a scorer, then coming off the bench would be the better role for him.

I like our starting 5 tho neway. It really doesn't matter, the fact that we have internal options is amazing

I don't think is crazy because OG and Trent might be offended and Scottie did it in college and is still young and he needs to be more aggressive on O for us anyways to be the #2 guy here unless we make a huge trade, and that's commonly done off the bench or with bench units anyways early in guys careers when they're not the #1 right away.

I've been saying it. A lot.

Reason #1: The success of this lineup.

FVV-Trent-OG-Siakam-Precious . . 138.1 . . 61.0 . . +77.1 (21 minutes; this year)
FVV-Trent-OG-Siakam-Precious . . 109.5 . . 98.2 . . +11.4 (48 minutes; last year)

Reason #2: The mediocrity of the current starters.

FVV-Trent-OG-Barnes-Siakam . . 113.8 . . 110.0 . . +3.8 (41 minutes; this year)
FVV-Trent-OG-Barnes-Siakam . . 107.4 . . 106.8 . . +0.5 (345 minutes; last year)

Good basketball players. Not a great fit.

Reason #3: Achiuwa's consistent success with starting units.

We have the extended example of the team's success while Achiuwa started at the beginning of last season when Siakam was injured, despite the fact that the Raptors were incorporating a lot of young/new pieces and didn't have their best player.

Also, Achiuwa units with at least three starters last year, minimum 40 minutes:

• FVV-Trent-OG-Barnes-Precious . . . . . . .109.0/100.6/+8.4 (158 minutes)
• FVV-Trent-Barnes-Siakam-Precious . . . . 114.7/101.3/+13.4 (152 minutes)
• Trent-Barnes-Siakam-Boucher-Precious . 114.0/93.6/+20.4 (51 minutes)
• FVV-OG-Siakam-Boucher-Precious . . . . . 110.8/109.1/+1.7 (48 minutes)
• FVV-Trent-OG-Siakam-Precious . . . . . . . 109.5/98.2/+11.4 (48 minutes)
• FVV-OG-Barnes-Siakam-Precious . . . . . . 96.7/92.0/+4.7 (45 minutes)
• FVV-Trent-Siakam-Boucher-Precious . . . . 117.4/94.7/+22.7 (44 minutes)

Reason #4: Achiuwa's lack of success without starters

E.g.,
Achiuwa without FVV or Siakam: 101.2/114.9/-13.7 (250 minutes)
Achiuwa with FVV and Siakam: 111.8/104.2/+7.6 (532 minutes)

Achiuwa needs a more stable offense to thrive. He needs to know his role. He's a good complementary piece on offense if somebody solid is creating.

Reason #5: The effectiveness of Barnes with bench combos

Banton-Barnes-Boucher: 113.4/93.2/+20.2 (173 minutes)
Barnes-Boucher-Birch: 112.8/99.4/+13.4 (151 minutes)

Long Bois. That gives us a wonderful bench foundation.

Reason #6: Let Barnes develop with the ball in his hands more.

That's impossible when he's playing with so many guys who like the ball. That was David Thorpe's take from the beginning: let Scottie come off the bench so he has the ball in his hands more often to develop offensively.

Reason #7: Ego management.

I don't know how any other starter would take coming off the bench, but I know Scottie would be fine. If he embraced coming off the bench in college even though he was lottery-bound, I think he can handle coming off the bench a couple years later in the NBA.

[Wannabe MEP]

Raptors top four trios that have played at least 50 minutes together:

[Wannabe MEP]

Six Raptors have played at least 100 minutes.

Achiuwa has the best net rating among them: +11.7 (112.6/100.8). His 100.8 defensive rating is also the best.

[DelAbbot]

This thread looking good tonight

[Wannabe MEP]

This thread looking good tonight

For me the biggest pro-Banton argument is what happened in the spring. This is from Jan 1 on:



Give him some consistent minutes with guys who can score, and he adds value with his length and craftiness with the ball.

[Fairview4Life]

This thread looking good tonight

For me the biggest pro-Banton argument is what happened in the spring. This is from Jan 1 on:



Give him some consistent minutes with guys who can score, and he adds value with his length and craftiness with the ball.

328 mins in 35 games though. He performed during his chances but it was mainly garbage/limited time.

[GreatWhiteStiff]

Ya'll forgot about Flynn. Except JohnnyBBall.

[Psubs]

Ya'll forgot about Flynn. Except JohnnyBBall.

I didn't. He just needs PT and not have to feel like he needs to play hero ball at all. As he get older, if he keeps working out like Mike Bibby he could be a keeper.

[Wannabe MEP]

For me the biggest pro-Banton argument is what happened in the spring. This is from Jan 1 on:



Give him some consistent minutes with guys who can score, and he adds value with his length and craftiness with the ball.

328 mins in 35 games though. He performed during his chances but it was mainly garbage/limited time.

328 minutes is not 1000 minutes...but it's not 50 either. He was 10th in minutes for the team for that stretch. Sometimes Nurse would play like 8 guys and Banton wouldn't play. But FVV, OG, and Trent each missed a significant chunk of games, so Banton got meaningful minutes.

These are all the Banton lineups during that stretch that played at least 10 minutes together:



Long Bois lineups with Banton, Boucher, and a couple starters worked. Those aren't garbage time units.

[GreatWhiteStiff]

Apologize to Malachi Flynn, Los.

[bluerap23]

How did Malachi make it into this thread? He is finally scoring a little but did anyone see him consistently getting hunted and torched by Ivey? I expect Dowtin to be ahead of him on the depth chart against Miami.

[Van_Trump]

I feel the better question to ask is where each would be taken in a redraft.

[Wannabe MEP]

Apologize to Malachi Flynn, Los.

[DelAbbot]

Obligatory bump now that both Precious & Banton are off the Raptors

NinjaBro relax, this not about you this time.

[2019nbachamps]

I didn’t rate Precious the moment he started playing for us. Lacks BBIQ. It was very telling we didn’t even offer him an extension, usually a no brainer for 1RPs. He’ll get another contract this summer but I’m not sure he survives in this league beyond that.

Banton isn’t an NBA player.

[DemHeavyHands]

Banton is the best ball-handler and passer, and is so unique for his size as a PG.

Even with Scottie’s “down” year last season this is a crazy statement

Banton is ass. He should have went to Europe so he could get playing time, dominate and develop some skills, then try the nba comeback years later. Except he decided to ride Boston’s bench

[ItsDanger]

After firing Nurse, Masai lamented the lack of development time for Banton, Flynn, Achiuwa, Harper. And they're all gone already . . .