Toronto Raptors Training Camp Thread

Lateral Quicks · Post #61 » by **Lateral Quicks** » Tue Sep 27, 2022 11:00 pm

Spida888 wrote:Koloko looked good in that video. Chances are he'll take the Birch minutes at some point (maybe even right away) and Birch will be the 3rd string center.

That's what I'm hoping for. There will be times this year where we need someone with more size at C, and if Koloko can just hold his own in his rookie year it would be huge.

Madhouse · Post #62 » by **Madhouse** » Tue Sep 27, 2022 11:15 pm

If players who are not even projected in the rotation, show up this year, we could have a really deep team this year.

Like right now I wouldn't expect Flynn, Banton or Koloko to be in the regular rotation. It would be huge if we could have up to 12 real players not just 7 or 8 like last year.

The roster is setting up nicely.

Madhouse · Post #63 » by **Madhouse** » Tue Sep 27, 2022 11:20 pm

WuTang_OG wrote:

Watch on YouTube

He's all of 6'10 :lol:

Dalek · Post #64 » by **Dalek** » Tue Sep 27, 2022 11:24 pm

Madhouse wrote:If players who are not even projected in the rotation, show up this year, we could have a really deep team this year.

Like right now I wouldn't expect Flynn, Banton or Koloko to be in the regular rotation. It would be huge if we could have up to 12 real players not just 7 or 8 like last year.

The roster is setting up nicely.

I think depth is still a necessity because we are not out of COVID times yet and the depth and continuity will help get wins for Toronto. I am still not clear if the NBA has adopted different testing guidelines, but given the travel and exposure risk, you think guys are going to miss games due to COVID guidelines.

I did find one nugget on NBA.com:

Players, vaccinated or not, who return a positive or inconclusive test result again will be required to isolate immediately. It would likely be for 10 days if those test results are eventually confirmed as positive.

https://www.nba.com/news/nba-tells-teams-vaccinated-players-wont-need-regular-tests

Personally, I think this is why we have so much depth and interchangeable players because in a pinch Thad or Otto can start if P or OG are unavailable.

WuTang_CMB · Post #65 » by **WuTang_CMB** » Tue Sep 27, 2022 11:42 pm

Nurse touched on it and you really need 3 different groups or tiers of players that can all play. A couple of injuries to starters and a main rotation guy throws everything out of wack and all of a sudden the guys in the 3rd tier will get minutes.

Tier 1:

FVV, Trent, OG, Siakam, Scottie

Tier 2:

Precious, Boucher, Thad, Otto, and maybe one of Banton/Flynn

Tier 3:

Banton or Flynn, Koloko, Hernangomez, Birch, Champagnie

That's really solid.

djsunyc · Post #66 » by **djsunyc** » Tue Sep 27, 2022 11:44 pm

WuTang_OG wrote:Nurse touched on it and you really need 3 different groups or tiers of players that can all play. A couple of injuries to starters and a main rotation guy throws everything out of wack and all of a sudden the guys in the 3rd tier will get minutes.

Tier 1:

FVV, Trent, OG, Siakam, Scottie

Tier 2:

Precious, Boucher, Thad, Otto, and maybe one of Banton/Flynn

Tier 3:

Banton or Flynn, Koloko, Hernangomez, Birch, Champagnie

That's really solid.

the team is missing a 3rd guard like norm. we need a guy that can score 15-18 pts off the bench from the guard spot once a week.

KP730 · Post #67 » by **KP730** » Tue Sep 27, 2022 11:51 pm

Spida888 wrote:Koloko looked good in that video. Chances are he'll take the Birch minutes at some point (maybe even right away) and Birch will be the 3rd string center.

Don't think we will send Gary to the bench even though I don't like the starting lineup with Pascal at the 5. Gary's on a contract year, and benching him means he'll likely bolt in the off-season. If we prefer to trade Gary this season, then benching him may lower his value as well.

Maybe we experiment starting Gary, but sub him in early for Precious/Koloko.

Yeah, maybe Raps will stick with same starting 5 going into the season, but pull Barnes early in the 1st Q to experiment with him playing PG more with the bench unit

if that goes well, trading Trent mid season so Barnes starts at PG with Precious at the 5 might be the move IF it’s looking like Trent won’t resign….get something of value for Trent while getting Barnes into the role he wants at PG and finally getting a real 5 in the starting lineup

WuTang_CMB · Post #68 » by **WuTang_CMB** » Wed Sep 28, 2022 12:00 am

djsunyc wrote:
WuTang_OG wrote:Nurse touched on it and you really need 3 different groups or tiers of players that can all play. A couple of injuries to starters and a main rotation guy throws everything out of wack and all of a sudden the guys in the 3rd tier will get minutes.

Tier 1:

FVV, Trent, OG, Siakam, Scottie

Tier 2:

Precious, Boucher, Thad, Otto, and maybe one of Banton/Flynn

Tier 3:

Banton or Flynn, Koloko, Hernangomez, Birch, Champagnie

That's really solid.

the team is missing a 3rd guard like norm. we need a guy that can score 15-18 pts off the bench from the guard spot once a week.

It's a valid statement but we will have to see if the new 2nd unit can provide scoring without those "lulls" that we had last season. Otto will help. So will an improved Precious. But I think staggering Trent to play more with the 2nd unit could satisfy it.

WuTang_CMB · Post #69 » by **WuTang_CMB** » Wed Sep 28, 2022 12:12 am

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-jd-bunkis-podcast/id1645602129?i=1000580830903

blake on

WuTang_CMB · Post #70 » by **WuTang_CMB** » Wed Sep 28, 2022 12:15 am

WuTang_CMB · Post #71 » by **WuTang_CMB** » Wed Sep 28, 2022 12:22 am

FVV def got into better shape

Read on Twitter

PhilBlackson · Post #72 » by **PhilBlackson** » Wed Sep 28, 2022 1:48 am

Madhouse wrote:If players who are not even projected in the rotation, show up this year, we could have a really deep team this year.

Like right now I wouldn't expect Flynn, Banton or Koloko to be in the regular rotation. It would be huge if we could have up to 12 real players not just 7 or 8 like last year.

The roster is setting up nicely.

If you mean not initially, I'm somewhat with you on that....although I can see them giving Flynn one last try early on & to build at least some minor trade value but if he doesn't perform I'm sure the leash will get pulled and won't ever get out of the dog house. But as the season progresses I don't think they'll hold back CK.

I genuinely believe Koloko will work his way into regular rotation well before the season is over. I'm sure he'll see some playing time against the larger Cs in the league (ie/ Embiid, Giannis, Gobert, Jokic, Allen etc) & I expect him to look fairly good as I could already see him having some synergy with the starters (in particular Fred) at Rico's runs which I don't think was a coincidence that I believe he played pretty much solely with the starters vs a clear "2nd unit" with all the other young guys. They also made it clear they've followed him a long time (as they did Precious) and they also gave him a 3 year deal which isn't the norm (ask David Johnson) so they're certainly showing quite a bit of confidence in him. Also if you listen to Nurse's recent interviews he's all but giving nothing but glowing reviews about the kid's work ethic & how much he believes he's going to get better & better. Quite frankly, I'll actually be shocked if Koloko rides the pine all year but we'll see...

Joker · Post #73 » by **Joker** » Wed Sep 28, 2022 1:58 am

I’m all in on koloko. Good feet, good touch, nice shooting stroke, good feel and timing, with elite length.

Looks like he bites too easily on shot fakes, as most young rim protectors do, but I could see that rapidly improving with time.

WuTang_CMB · Post #74 » by **WuTang_CMB** » Wed Sep 28, 2022 2:39 am

If 2nd half Precious comes back even with a slight 10% improvement, that bolds well for the bench.

Read on Twitter

WuTang_CMB · Post #75 » by **WuTang_CMB** » Wed Sep 28, 2022 2:44 am

Webster

https://www.tsn.ca/nba/video/webster-shares-what-kind-of-leap-he-thinks-the-raptors-will-make-this-year~2515507

redeye514 · Post #76 » by **redeye514** » Wed Sep 28, 2022 2:48 am

I honestly don’t know how we’re going to find minutes for everyone.. I’m counting 13-14 guys who will be expecting some PT. Good problem to have I guess, but very curious to see how this all plays out without a consolidation trade of some kind.

720 · Post #77 » by **720** » Wed Sep 28, 2022 2:52 am

Read on Twitter

alan_156 · Post #78 » by **alan_156** » Wed Sep 28, 2022 3:59 am

djsunyc wrote:
WuTang_OG wrote:Nurse touched on it and you really need 3 different groups or tiers of players that can all play. A couple of injuries to starters and a main rotation guy throws everything out of wack and all of a sudden the guys in the 3rd tier will get minutes.

Tier 1:

FVV, Trent, OG, Siakam, Scottie

Tier 2:

Precious, Boucher, Thad, Otto, and maybe one of Banton/Flynn

Tier 3:

Banton or Flynn, Koloko, Hernangomez, Birch, Champagnie

That's really solid.

the team is missing a 3rd guard like norm. we need a guy that can score 15-18 pts off the bench from the guard spot once a week.

We've been missing that consistent bench scorer for a few years now. We need a guy like clarkson off the bench.

Raptors_128 · Post #79 » by **Raptors_128** » Wed Sep 28, 2022 4:07 am

Very surprised that there haven’t been any rumours of extension talks with Fred & less so Siakam.

PhilBlackson · Post #80 » by **PhilBlackson** » Wed Sep 28, 2022 4:12 am

As an aside I think Juancho & Otto are gonna be excellent fits with Scottie when Fred goes to the bench. Both guys are really good at moving off ball & knowing where to be on the court. I felt like Scottie had a good feel for stuff like that with Yuta and obviously both guys should be an upgrade over him with some additional ballhandling in Otto's case.

Anyways there should be a lot of fun things to watch unfold this season which can't be here fast enough..