PG System and Usage Angst again

[raptor jesus]

I hit 7 corner 3s against the Raptors and didn't even have to leave my couch!

[Ref_from_hell]

How does a team that was 6-3 and playing amazing defense suddenly fall off a cliff defensively? Our defense was so sound and tight and now it's one of the worst in the league. Like what changed?

[Boogie!]

Don't forget Trent. This systemxand chemistry is atrocious.

Gary Trent Jr might be my least favourite player on the team. He just plays such an annoying brand of basketball. He's only able to look for his own shot. He's made like 3 swing passes the entire season. He is either unable or unwilling to playmake for others. He's the type of player you would absolutely hate playing with. All me and no we.

This is why i think Nurse is clueless as a coach. Just too many isos at this point. GTJ is allowed to shoot whenever he has the ball without cautioning him.

It's nurses no system system. Play defense do whatever you want on offense no consequences.

[PushDaRock]

GTJ

3-16 for 11, 0 assists in 28mins, -31

Trent has played really well for us this season but it's inexcusable to have 0 assists while jacking up the amount of shots he did today.

It's ingrained in GTJ to get his shot first. GTJ is the opposite type of basketball player to Scottie Barnes.

Even when GTJ's shot is falling (like when Utah played bad defense on him), it's still bad style of basketball the way GTJ plays.

He's a bad shot maker. You need someone like that who can bail you out sometimes but his shot selection overall does leave something to be desired.

[seanbig]

How does a team that was 6-3 and playing amazing defense suddenly fall off a cliff defensively? Our defense was so sound and tight and now it's one of the worst in the league. Like what changed?

OG >>pascal on defense and communicating

[will]

When does Nicky speed up Senior playing off the ball with the rock in Scottie's hands more often?

I am so much more impressed with Fred when he is off ball.

Even when he is successful on ISOs, it is boring basketball to watch and it is contagious. There was a sequence of plays where Fred went ISO, the next play, another Raptor went ISO, and then on the third trip Banton looked like he was going to ISO but passed to the corner. Boring.

I

Senior is a tremendous shooter. Taking it to the hoop? It's definitely an adventure.

[bakafool]

How does a team that was 6-3 and playing amazing defense suddenly fall off a cliff defensively? Our defense was so sound and tight and now it's one of the worst in the league. Like what changed?

We were playing mediocre teams in that stretch. Also, it was just a matter of time for other teams to figure out how to adjust to our overreacting defense and basic offense.

[DelAbbot]

I'm a FVV hater, but you have to give him some credit for keeping Steph Curry at 12 points in 37 mins. Who else in the NBA can do this to Steph, especially this year where he's averaging 30

Breaking news, del. Steph averages 30 like every year. You're making sigs, now, you've made it kid.

[GreatWhiteStiff]

I'm a FVV hater, but you have to give him some credit for keeping Steph Curry at 12 points in 37 mins. Who else in the NBA can do this to Steph, especially this year where he's averaging 30

Breaking news, del. Steph averages 30 like every year. You're making sigs, now, you've made it kid.

-Fred Van Vleet

Brought it back to the topic too!

[Childs]

Read on Twitter

[Tor_Raps]

Trent has played really well for us this season but it's inexcusable to have 0 assists while jacking up the amount of shots he did today.

It's ingrained in GTJ to get his shot first. GTJ is the opposite type of basketball player to Scottie Barnes.

Even when GTJ's shot is falling (like when Utah played bad defense on him), it's still bad style of basketball the way GTJ plays.

He's a bad shot maker. You need someone like that who can bail you out sometimes but his shot selection overall does leave something to be desired.

Agreed that every team needs a guy like that and he's only 22. But guys with that type of game need to be stars or else they become Lou Williams/Jamal Crawford 6th man types. You can't be a role player with that style.

[sidsid]

One of my favourite Banton games as he took like 6 jumpers. Like Barnes, he's finding that spot at the elbow and taking some good shots.

Boucher is just a problem if he's playing with bench lineups. Every possession he's involved in looks like a YMCA game.

Barnes having issues facing up against Draymond at the elbow is expected, but in an ideal offense around him, his back should be to the basket and working off a couple cuts.

This should have been a vet call out game. Fred absolutely killed us in the first quarter. Terrible game management, took a bunch of shots out of rhythm. We were hard doubling Steph which lead to easy passes out that lead to the 20 point lead they got, so his defense didn't even matter. The bench got us back into it. Then he did it again in the third. If this was a merit game he should have been sat for the game early in the third to send a message like we did to Siakam in the past. Instead he got rewarded with another 38 minute game.

[DelAbbot]

It's ingrained in GTJ to get his shot first. GTJ is the opposite type of basketball player to Scottie Barnes.

Even when GTJ's shot is falling (like when Utah played bad defense on him), it's still bad style of basketball the way GTJ plays.

He's a bad shot maker. You need someone like that who can bail you out sometimes but his shot selection overall does leave something to be desired.

Agreed that every team needs a guy like that and he's only 22. But guys with that type of game need to be stars or else they become Lou Williams/Jamal Crawford 6th man types. You can't be a role player with that style.

I mean if GTJ played as smooth as Lou Williams and created space and open looks when we need buckets - then I wouldn't be hating on him as much. But GTJ doesn't. His shake-offs look so stiff like some old dude out of Y, and he is doing it next to our starting lineup - taking away possessions from other capable players and Barnes.

[gbball]

Honestly, it's the Warriors. We had no chance of winning so I'm not even mad at this loss.

But a few takeaways:

1. Defense looked horrible tonight. We made Wiggins and Poole look like Curry and Thompson out there.

2. Scottie - not sure what's going on with him. Was not good on the defensive end and looks so unsure of himself with the ball. Made a couple of good shots but passed up on open layups, missed a few really good looks at the rim. We all knew he was going to be a project on the offensive end but if he's not even going to be reliable on D...there's only so much blaming others that we can do.

3. FVV understood the assignment and took Curry completely out of the game. At times I forgot Curry was even playing. But was horrible offensively. He pounds the ball a LOT and often insists on taking difficult shots.

4. Pascal - see Scottie

5. Banton was really impressive. If that jumper ever gets consistent, look out.

This team DESPERATELY need a shot creator or an offensive scheme that can create easy buckets. Way too much one on one and ending possessions in bad shots.

I would really like to see Nurse send Trent to the bench. As I've said before, Trents game is much better suited to the bench. He reminds me a lot of Nick Young - great shooter and microwave scorer but when he's not scoring, he really isn't doing much else.

If Trent goes to the bench, we can run: FVV/Barnes/OG/Siakam/Birch. Have Scottie handle the PG duties.

Bench:
Banton/Trent/Svi/Boucher/Precious

The problem with Trent is he has the norm “I gotta start or I suck balls” syndrome so if he goes to the bench he might as well be a dnp-cd

Fred would be our surest bet off the bench, but I can't see it every happening. It'd also give us a look at a different orchestrator on offense.

[Starr1]

Read on Twitter

Nurse is a mad man!

[EFF3KT]

There were a few moments tonight where I saw Scottie forcing passes when he was in the key that either led to a turnover (like that pass to a cutting FVV) or to a man on the perimeter.

With what we've already seen from his improved shooting, he needs to find his own offense. He's too talented to be passing up opportunities just to see guys like Boucher jack up a 3 or Siakam run into a wall of defenders in the paint with no conversion.
Originally I thought him and Pascal could share the floor but with close to 10 games in, I just don't see it and I don't foresee NN changing anything to adapt. Our offense has been like this since the Kawhi days. We longer have a Lowry to bail us out.

[ciueli]

I would say don't go overboard with the hot takes after losing to the best defense/overall team in the league right now but this is realGM

What are you talking about? The Golden State Warriors *ONLY* have a point differential of +13 and we lost by 15. This is a travesty and we should fold the franchise!

[Son Goku 25]

Barnes needs to be assertive from the very beginning. I'm waiting for him to have his moment and then take over from there on.

[Tha Cynic]

Barnes isn't going to get his touches playing alongside Pascal and FVV. Once OG is back, even less touches.
I never thought I'd say this but for the sake of Scottie's development, we need to move him to the bench so he can be our primary facilitator in our 2nd unit. We have enough of a sample size to see that Pascal and FVV have no intention to let Scottie playmake and just defer him to becoming a screener and dribble hand off man. A huge waste of his development time and potential.
We really saw Scottie's energy and confidence explode in the 2nd half, especially the 4th in garbage time where he was assertive. He looked lost on defense in the 1st half and became a passive floater on the offensive end. It was good to see that change in the 2nd half.

Bang on with every take.

I have been in favour of moving him to the bench for a few games now. This team's offense needs a change and it's very clear that they look much smoother when Barnes is given stretches where he's allowed to do more than dribble handoff.

We also hear Nurse talk about Barnes being more aggressive, which he can be, but I think the offense they're playing right now makes it very difficult. Barnes being more aggressive is basically Barnes playing like FVV, GTJ, and Siakam and chucking himself. This team just isn't looking to make easy plays for each other, other than when Barnes is allowed to use his own creativity for a short stretch.

You can see Barnes kind of break away from the normal Raptors offense at times and do his own thing by reading the play, and that's when you see how smart he is. He's easily the team's best facilitator on offense.

[will]

Barnes needs to be assertive from the very beginning. I'm waiting for him to have his moment and then take over from there on.

Second half of the season.

Book it.