PG: Raps outpace Indy

[wtcantfw]

Scottie Barnes has franchise player potential. He has all the tools. All of them. Including and especially the intangibles. Once he understands that he has a tremendous physical advantage against everyone in the league not named Giannis that’s when he will ascend to superstardom and we will be back in the finals. This is not hyperbole. I truly believe this. It’s ridiculous how easy he makes everything look. It’s like he’s playing by himself out there. Between his athleticism, awareness and intelligence, it’s as if everyone else is moving in slow motion when he has the ball. He just finds space so well on offence and takes space away so efficiently on defence. And he’s a natural leader without fear. And a lot of swagger. And some killer instinct. He’s going to be so f***ing special.

He barely uses his frame right now to bump defenders off balance, a la Kawhi and Giannis. Once he figures out how to use his physicality to his advantage, hoooo man.

[ItsDanger]

1-0 without Dragic. What happened?

[will]

1-0 without Dragic. What happened?

Nicky got higher ambitions.

[WuTang_CMB]

1-0 without Dragic. What happened?

lol.. yep. He just wasnt it.

Banton provides energy and playmaking, Dragic doesn't. You need those things off the bench from your backup.

When you look at Banton, he's incredibly long, like freakish. Once he gets a shot, and improves his overall game/confidence, he's a starter in a winning team for sure, and that's huge value at 46.

Banton
Barnes
OG
Siakam
Birch/Precious

Would be interesting to see that in a year.

[Clay Davis]

Anyone else find this to be the most entertaining team we've fielded in awhile?

We've had teams with AMAZING defense (like, all-time great level), but never one that was so focused on forcing turnovers and playing in transition. It's like watching high school ball.

Barnes is an absolute joy to watch. He has the ability to affect any play on either side of the court.

Only thing that sucks is watching Birch biff opportunities... And listening to Leo (or is it Jack? All these years and I still don't know their names) continuously repeat "Bonjour" and "get this garbage outta here". So **** annoying.

Sent from my moto g(8) power lite using RealGM mobile app

Just wait till PSizzle aka AAAAYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! aka OHMYYYyyGGGgawwwwwwDDDddd!!! comes back.

I don't want it

[will]

Anyone else find this to be the most entertaining team we've fielded in awhile?

We've had teams with AMAZING defense (like, all-time great level), but never one that was so focused on forcing turnovers and playing in transition. It's like watching high school ball.

Barnes is an absolute joy to watch. He has the ability to affect any play on either side of the court.

Only thing that sucks is watching Birch biff opportunities... And listening to Leo (or is it Jack? All these years and I still don't know their names) continuously repeat "Bonjour" and "get this garbage outta here". So **** annoying.

Sent from my moto g(8) power lite using RealGM mobile app

Just wait till PSizzle aka AAAAYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! aka OHMYYYyyGGGgawwwwwwDDDddd!!! comes back.

I don't want it

Hatin'.

[Hit Em Up]

Barnes is going to be a star. The scary part is that I really have no idea what offensive moves Barnes has right now.. seems like every shot is different from him. With how much he improved since college, he will be scary in a couple years.

Some of his shots look super awkward too but they are still going in, he had one post up yesterday where he spun the opposite way and still made the shot..

[Dennis 37]

His poise at such a young age is uncanny. Scottie doesn't get flustered. The game slows down with the ball in his hands. When I see him dribble the ball upcourt it is controlled, unrushed assessing the situation. It appears like the moment isn't too big for him and he can see the court at a more elevated level. This cannot be taught.

He gives off Neo vibes.

What I like is that there is no ego there. When OG was beasting in the first half, Scottie wasn't pouting that he wasn't getting his. He simply was content being a complimentary player. Then when it was his turn, he did his thing. Can you imagine when we add Pascal and they all take turns, and therefore all remain fresh?

[Dennis 37]

Anyone else find this to be the most entertaining team we've fielded in awhile?

We've had teams with AMAZING defense (like, all-time great level), but never one that was so focused on forcing turnovers and playing in transition. It's like watching high school ball.

Barnes is an absolute joy to watch. He has the ability to affect any play on either side of the court.

Only thing that sucks is watching Birch biff opportunities... And listening to Leo (or is it Jack? All these years and I still don't know their names) continuously repeat "Bonjour" and "get this garbage outta here". So **** annoying.

Sent from my moto g(8) power lite using RealGM mobile app

Just wait till PSizzle aka AAAAYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! aka OHMYYYyyGGGgawwwwwwDDDddd!!! comes back.

I read a dissertation with that title once.

[Dennis 37]

1-0 without Dragic. What happened?

lol.. yep. He just wasnt it.

Banton provides energy and playmaking, Dragic doesn't. You need those things off the bench from your backup.

When you look at Banton, he's incredibly long, like freakish. Once he gets a shot, and improves his overall game/confidence, he's a starter in a winning team for sure, and that's huge value at 46.

Spoiler:

Banton
Barnes
OG
Siakam
Birch/Precious

Would be interesting to see that in a year.

It's all that but it is also his speed. Not only does he push this team to a higher pace, he gets back on defence so quickly.

[mrdressup]

Banton, Boucher and Birch are a good fit. I'm calling them Canada's Better Business Bureau.

[ItsDanger]

That pass by Scottie to Trent cutting for a layup just underscores how he needs the ball in his hands more. Nobody else on this team makes that pass so easily. Watching him & Banton pass makes me forget the smurf backcourt period. Their height just allows to set up teammates in more ways than a 6'0 guy.

[LBJKB24MJ23]

Anyone else find this to be the most entertaining team we've fielded in awhile?

We've had teams with AMAZING defense (like, all-time great level), but never one that was so focused on forcing turnovers and playing in transition. It's like watching high school ball.

Barnes is an absolute joy to watch. He has the ability to affect any play on either side of the court.

Only thing that sucks is watching Birch biff opportunities... And listening to Leo (or is it Jack? All these years and I still don't know their names) continuously repeat "Bonjour" and "get this garbage outta here". So **** annoying.

Sent from my moto g(8) power lite using RealGM mobile app

its only entertaining because we finally have a high profile rookie on the team, who is WAY better than any of us thought he could be in his first year - I bet if we had finished in a playoff spot last year and drafted a guy in the late teens/ early 20s, with an unknown ceiling/floor, some of them would be calling for Nurse or Masai's head right now after the 1-3 start. Additionally with an injured Siakam, this team would be kinda blah to watch.

Barnes seems like he's about to be face of the franchise after these first 5 games. He's the perfect guy to be a lightning rod to the culture Masai/Webster are trying to build here in Toronto.

I mean I disagree with that. Of course it's more exciting due to Scottie but it's not just his physical profile it's his basketball iq that excites.

But even if we replaced him with some other random rookie, you still get to see OGs budding offensive game including absolutely dominating while stifling defense.
Our team defense concept actually starts to work/contest 3pters without 2 pgs on the floor so it's fun to watch that.
We don't have stopgap old centres we have another hyper athletic longboy in Achiuwa and we are way younger as a team which was always the most fun about being a treadmill team watching the yutes learn who/what they can be in the league

edit: what I meant to say is that the BIGGEST reason why its entertaining is Barnes. you listed a couple of other good points as well but we all have our eyes glued on Barnes on what he is going to do.

na the buzz is about Barnes right now. we can see in every game thread. the social media around Barnes has been sky rocketing.

like I said - he's the lightning rod that this team has actually been positive around. everyone has criticized FVV, OG, Precious, Trent, Dragic etc. Barnes can do no wrong right now and thats been positively refreshing. even at the end of the day after a bad game, the forum has taken positive swing on Barnes' game.

having a high ceiling player has definitely shaped the way people look at the future of this team. its been night and day versus last year. Raptors have something to be hopeful for. FVV, OG, Siakam are kinda controversial players right now. we know what they can do and what they can't do. we also know they are not championship first option players.

[will]

Anyone else find this to be the most entertaining team we've fielded in awhile?

We've had teams with AMAZING defense (like, all-time great level), but never one that was so focused on forcing turnovers and playing in transition. It's like watching high school ball.

Barnes is an absolute joy to watch. He has the ability to affect any play on either side of the court.

Only thing that sucks is watching Birch biff opportunities... And listening to Leo (or is it Jack? All these years and I still don't know their names) continuously repeat "Bonjour" and "get this garbage outta here". So **** annoying.

Sent from my moto g(8) power lite using RealGM mobile app

Just wait till PSizzle aka AAAAYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! aka OHMYYYyyGGGgawwwwwwDDDddd!!! comes back.

I read a dissertation with that title once.

[lobosloboslobos]

Banton, Boucher and Birch are a good fit. I'm calling them Canada's Better Business Basketball Bureau.

ftfy

[mtcan]

I love the chaos Banton, Barnes, Birch and Boucher provide. They swarm the opposing offence. Call them the Killer B's

[And1+2]

I found this gem in the comment section on one of the Pacers blogs. It's well written, so props to the guy who wrote it, someone who goes by the screen name Inventing Arguments.

Somewhere in my ghostwritten-sports-biography-addled brain there's this vague recollection of something Larry Bird said/told Bob Ryan in Drive. It's something like:

"If you're thinking about going to an NBA game and one of the teams is playing its third game in four nights, forget it. Go see a movie instead."
Holy ****, did last night's game look like a movie night. While it was technically the Pacers' third game in five nights, maybe dealing with customs knocks off one of those off nights? Regardless, this game looked like it was more or less happening to the Pacers before they realized they were actually involved.

If you listened to Chris and Quinn's broadcast, you left certain of one thing: the Raptors are long. Long, long, long. Very, very long. Given the excessive longness of each of the Raptors, excepting of course VanVleet, the Pacer's brand new 5-out offense looked like it it ran into a defense Platonically designed to disrupt it.

The DHOs, drives past closeouts, semi-open spot-up jumpers that the offense is built on just didn't work against the Raptors' -- say it with me, Quinn -- length. The result? Twenty-three turnovers, almost all of them live-ball TOs, resulting in 31 Raptors' points.

Yikes.

The interesting question to me is this -- how does this offense look a month from now against a similar, long-limbed and active-handed defense? Does Carlisle have wrinkles to adjust? Are players like Miles and Sabonis, who've moved from the post to the perimeter, more comfortable making decisions and attacking closeouts and defensive seams without losing the ball? Or are their different personnel on the floor by then?

On today's The Distraction podcast, David Roth compared the dark years of Nets' fandom to this clip from The Simpsons. After last night's game and the 1-4 start, it's feels particularly apt.

[mrdressup]

Banton, Boucher and Birch are a good fit. I'm calling them Canada's Better Business Basketball Bureau.

ftfy

We all know basketball's just a business.

[lobosloboslobos]

FVV, OG, Siakam are kinda controversial players right now. we know what they can do and what they can't do. we also know they are not championship first option players.

OK then, since you know so much about the future, tell me how many all-star nods those 3 guys will have in the next 5 years between them.

truth is you haven't the slightest idea. and neither do i.

could be 0. could be 9.
if it's 0 we aren't winning a title in those 5 years.
if it's 9, we surely are.

[LBJKB24MJ23]

I like the paint drop offs for Birch, Barnes and Precious. Birch and Barnes with their push shots adds another dimension to the offense.