Raps V. Nuggets - Preseason - Mon, Oct 6th, 2025 - 10PM EST

[MEDIC]

A proactive GM would have traded Dick already.

A reactive GM waits until his trade value tanks.

Yeah, you kind of have to know when you see a player. Does he represent what we want in a player?

Gradey has kind of stuck out like a sore thumb since he has been here.

Meanwhile, you watch Walter & from the first 5 minutes I saw him play, I thought "that's a guy I want going to battle for me".

[ATLTimekeeper]

Some.players can complain to the refs, but still maintain focus & lead a team. Some get too emotional & lose focus.

Scorties temperment has always been the former. There is something about him that has reminded me of Demarcus Cousins (without the anger).

I just call it like.I see it. Some people have good emotional regulation. Some don't.

I like Scottie. I loved the way he played in the 2nd half of last season. He needs to get back to that. He is not a leader though. Leaders stay calm in the face of adversity. Scottie is more like the "good vibes" guy who keeps the lockerroom light.

He's played one pre-season game since

Not basing it on 1 preseason game. It was the best version if Scottie I have seen & I have seen several versions since Scottie has been here. You really don't know which one is going to show up.

I'm just making fun of the way you phrased it. He needs to play like 2nd half of last year Scottie, but you can't reasonably take one pre-season game as a sign that he won't.

[Morris_Shatford]

While this is a trivial thing for a player deep in the rotation;
Hepburns 11 minutes of 0/3 shooting, no rebounds, no assists, yet four steals, and two turnovers was the most yay - boo 11 minutes I have had with a player in preseason since Joey Graham.

[ATLTimekeeper]

So it looks like this team is going to struggle to shoot. 10-42 from 3. 18-27 from the free throw line is not going to cut it. Who would think completely ignoring shooting would lead to poor shooting?

I think shooting 24% from 3 on the season is unlikely. I think we ended 0-11 in the 4th, with our deep bench and two way players.

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

So it looks like this team is going to struggle to shoot. 10-42 from 3. 18-27 from the free throw line is not going to cut it. Who would think completely ignoring shooting would lead to poor shooting?

I think shooting 24% from 3 on the season is unlikely. I think we ended 0-11 in the 4th, with our deep bench and two way players.

Oh, I think it's very Darko likely.

[HiJiNX]

Ochai was a team best +10 yesterday

He should be our 6th man and needs to play a lot more minutes.

Makes threes. Makes layups. Doesn’t demand the ball. Doesn’t make mistakes. Defends well. Good size and athleticism. Very underrated player because he’s so quiet.

[LoveMyRaps]

Also Walter continues to un-impress

Just looks like a weak player with average skills at best.

[HiJiNX]

Yup, that looks like what I expected. Scottie looks like the fifth best player on the floor.

Word? Worse than Mogbo?

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

Yup, that looks like what I expected. Scottie looks like the fifth best player on the floor.

Word? Worse than Mogbo?

I'm sure he's the better rollerblader of the two.

[NBA Sheady]

Imagine being as fast and as good of a shooting threat as IQ and still not being able to create an advantage lol

No first step.

[ATLTimekeeper]

Ochai still has too much of a Mikael Pietrus type game. It's clean, but he could make a lot more money if he imposed his physicality in the paint more. His former teammate Christian Braun is throwing his chin on the floor in a pre-season game.

He does seem to read the floor a little better than he did last year. But when I think of JaKobe, I mean obviously Ochai is better overall, but JaKobe is a bit scrappier.

[brwnman]

The good was the defensive intensity. Raptors will need that to be a Top 6 team in the East. I see our bench being the reason we're going to flip a lot the games in our favour.

Starting lineup is going to have some identity issues because the roles won't be very well defined and the lack of playmaking and shot-creation will be an issue against better defensive teams. Against average and below average teams, the passing/overpassing and movement will be enough.

The bad was definitely Gradey. Just a disastrous stretch he had with 2 offensive fouls and 2 defensive fouls in a short span of time. He's going to look better when he has better players around him to take the pressure off, but he's not a guy you can give the ball to create offense. He need to play that 4th/5th option and look for his opportunities. Walter had some good and bad moments. Shead is going to continue to have a role; just a winning type of player any team can use.

[iBall101]

Gradey may bounce back next game. He's a streaky player. If he can't become consistent by ASB then look to trade him. Jakobe is being slept on, he will prove to Crack rotation as time goes on. Scottie's defense was elite this game but offensively rusty. Still too early to critique the team.

[720]

Watching Scottie on offense leaves me constantly shaking my head and questioning how in the hell anyone ever thought he could be a franchise player.

I think it's because we saw him play bully ball like Giannis and how he was able to dominate. It's only we're doubting it because he's been playing away from that style. If he can consistently play that way, it's a wrap.

We’re making him guard Jokic while also facilitate the ball while also expecting him to create shots for himself. He simply does not have the stamina for that. His role on defense should be a roamer, not a point of attack defender. He doesn’t have the energy for that. He gets tired quickly. Regarding Valard’s post. There are countless games where he has shown he can easily be the franchise player regarding his offensive game. We want him to do everything for this team, stretching him thin, while also expecting efficient offense. Some guys are capable of that (Kawhi, Lowry, etc). But not every is. Many superstars aren’t capable of that. His role needs to be more defined but Darko is a clown so it’s taking longer than it should.

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

Watching Scottie on offense leaves me constantly shaking my head and questioning how in the hell anyone ever thought he could be a franchise player.

I think it's because we saw him play bully ball like Giannis and how he was able to dominate. It's only we're doubting it because he's been playing away from that style. If he can consistently play that way, it's a wrap.

We’re making him guard Jokic while also facilitate the ball while also expecting him to create shots for himself. He simply does not have the stamina for that. His role on defense should be a roamer, not a point of attack defender. He doesn’t have the energy for that. He gets tired quickly. Regarding Valard’s post. There are countless games where he has shown he can easily be the franchise player regarding his offensive game. We want him to do everything for this team, stretching him thin, while also expecting efficient offense. Some guys are capable of that (Kawhi, Lowry, etc). But not every is. Many superstars aren’t capable of that. His role needs to be more defined but Darko is a clown so it’s taking longer than it should.

When you look at the starting five, he's the "glue guy". That doesn't bode well for his outlook offensively.

[ForeverTFC]

Where exactly do you want the shots for IQ and Scottie to come from?

We brought in Ingram as first option. If we’re going to give RJ his usage, there won’t be shots for IQ and Scottie.

Thank God I'm not the coach lol. I think there is a balance that they'll figure out. I'm sure they'll use the pre-season to try things and see what makes sense. For the sake of playing devil's advocate, how successful do you think this team can be if Scottie and IQ are taking 12 shots combined in 20 minutes? I hope my question doesn't come across facetious, just curious and want to start a conversation.

The talk so far has been about a starting unit (with the standard 5), and a bench unit with Mamu, CMB, Dick, Ochai & Shead, and doing the hockey shifts kind of thing.

I think what they will come to realize is their starters won’t be able to play heavy minutes together, because as a unit they don’t maximize each other’s play.

So I expect to see more mixing of lineups eventually, with starters mixed with bench players, where the bench players skill sets compliment the starters in the game.

They'll definitely mix and match, but that's not a long term solution. Playoff rosters - for the most part - are 8 deep. Our goal should be to get our core guys comfortable playing with each other, not spreading them out because they can't.

[ConSarnit]

there's no reason scottie can't be a good screener. He's got the size for it

Screening is a skill. If it was easy, Scottie would be able to do it by now.

it's 100% a skill. What I meant more so is that there's no physical reasons why Scottie can't become a good screener. Comes down to 1) Scottie willing to learn the skill and 2) the coaching staff guiding him to learn the skill.

Barnes wants to play like a perimeter player. He’s never shown the ability to do the dirty work/big man things like screening and posting-up. If this game was any indication on how we’re going to use Barnes that is a bad sign.

The BI/IQ/RJ trio are a higher usage trio than the Siakam/FVV/OG trio. If Barnes is going to be off ball more I’m not sure how he’s helping our offense. Clearly his shooting doesn’t look any different.

It’s only one pre-season game but no one could have liked what they saw from Barnes on the offensive end.

[links135]

Watching Scottie on offense leaves me constantly shaking my head and questioning how in the hell anyone ever thought he could be a franchise player.

I think it's because we saw him play bully ball like Giannis and how he was able to dominate. It's only we're doubting it because he's been playing away from that style. If he can consistently play that way, it's a wrap.

We’re making him guard Jokic while also facilitate the ball while also expecting him to create shots for himself. He simply does not have the stamina for that. His role on defense should be a roamer, not a point of attack defender. He doesn’t have the energy for that. He gets tired quickly. Regarding Valard’s post. There are countless games where he has shown he can easily be the franchise player regarding his offensive game. We want him to do everything for this team, stretching him thin, while also expecting efficient offense. Some guys are capable of that (Kawhi, Lowry, etc). But not every is. Many superstars aren’t capable of that. His role needs to be more defined but Darko is a clown so it’s taking longer than it should.

No, it's because we start Mogbo against a guy like Jokic, who guess what on offence. Jokic isn't gonna care of Mogbo shoots any 3's, Mogbo isn't gonna space the floor for 3's, you also don't want Mogbo playing the high post facilitating the offense, so you have Jokic able to roam as a 1.5 help defender any where for any drive, causing issues for anyone who does want to drive because they can't dish to Jokic.

What's nice about Poeltl is not just that he blocks off lanes for drivers, but he's also capable of receiving the ball anywhere to the FT line from a drive and able to score or pass.

We also needed to have guys 6"8 guarding Jokic. It just made it incredibly tilted, for example, when someone on Denver drives, you don't wanna leave Jokic an inch of room, making it harder to help. Meanwhile Denver is all like by all means senor, pass it to Mogbo.

[NBA Sheady]

Mamu can shoot it

Surprise this guy got wauved

Watching Kornet last night it makes sense.

[Tor_Raps]

Gradey may bounce back next game. He's a streaky player. If he can't become consistent by ASB then look to trade him. Jakobe is being slept on, he will prove to Crack rotation as time goes on. Scottie's defense was elite this game but offensively rusty. Still too early to critique the team.

The problem with Dick is that when your shot is not falling (which happens a lot) then you need to be able to contribute in other ways.

Not only does he NOT help the team, he actually does many things that severely hurts the team like getting killed by his man defensively, providing 0 team defense, getting killed on the boards... it just sad tbh. It's Trae Young level defense without the offense to justify his minutes...