Where can Masai find a bigger wing defender?

[Yallbecrazy]

If we're relying on OG on being the wing defender for us in his rookie year, you might as well get yourself mentally ready for a first round exit. Jeezus Christ some of you guys are out to lunch.

What's so crazy about that idea? Powell was one of our best wing defenders during his rookie year... It wasn't that long ago.

Powell had more experience than OG.

Despite that experience OG put up better numbers defensively in both his rookie and sophomore season than Powell did in any of his college seasons.

[Yallbecrazy]

Powell was a senior coming out of UCLA. The fact that people think he's gonna do an adequate job of replacing tucker is hilarious.

And OG is a sophomore with a body like Ron Artest's. Powell was known as an all around player in college, while OG's primary role was wing defender.

Sure, OG might not be able to fill the void left by Tucker immediately, but I think his floor is much higher than you're making it sound.

Not saying he's not going to be a good defender. He'll have his moments were hell wow you and make you think he has a chance of all NBA defence at some point in his career. But rookie season? Please, stop this. He's going up against NBA offences, the main thing about being a successful defender at the NBA level is having a high iq, and detail. There's been a lot of players and I mean A LOOOOT of players that have come through the draft that people thought were going to be great defenders at the next level and flopped. They had the body, physique, and athletiscm to do it too. What's his IQ like? No one knows, gotta see him on a court with NBA players first. Defence isn't just man on man, what's his help defence going to be like? Making the correct reads on defence. Having to navigate going through countless amounts of screens on each possession? Just temper your expectations man, please!

The thread was about defending elite wings in the NBA, which is about 1 on 1 defense. His help D may end up being poor, he may only be a good overall defender in his rookie season. Why can't he be at least good? Kawhi was a very good defender his rookie season, so was Winslow--> there have been very good wing defenders as rookies recently.

[rapcity10]

Maybe his offense won't be good enough to see the floor a lot in his rookie year, but the second he's healthy he will easily be the Raptors best wing defender and probably top 20 in the NBA. https://thebaselinedrift.com/2017/06/20/og-anunoby-kawhi-leonard/

1 on 1 defensively, he is the best prospect to come along in at least a decade, perhaps much longer. Not sure if he will progress defensively, but even if he flat-lines from his college ability he will still be a really good wing defender and the Raptors best wing defender already.

Being the raptors best wing defender right now is not saying much to tell you the truth. The fact you are saying he might be the best one on one defender to come out in the last decade makes me really confident you had a long night of doing drugs last night.

Have you even spent an hour looking into his scouting report or reading articles that look into his defense, or even watching highlights? Have you spent any time reading generic articles about the stats that translate best from college to the NBA?
Stanley Johnson, Winslow, Aminu, Leonard, etc... none of those guys put up the stats OG did across the board. Some might match him in one or two categories, but he is at the top across the board in terms of steal rates, block rates, length, athleticism he is unmatched.

https://medium.com/@jzmazlish/why-og-anunoby-should-not-be-a-top-5-pick-but-should-go-in-the-top-10-564dd7408037

Andre Roberson is the closest in terms of stats, but he weighed a lot less, wasn't nearly as long, played in a much weaker conference and was a lot older

In conclusion, please name one better defensive wing prospect in the last decade.

I'm not wasting my time with this garbage man. "YOU BE CRAZY" Yallbecrazy

[Yallbecrazy]

Being the raptors best wing defender right now is not saying much to tell you the truth. The fact you are saying he might be the best one on one defender to come out in the last decade makes me really confident you had a long night of doing drugs last night.

Have you even spent an hour looking into his scouting report or reading articles that look into his defense, or even watching highlights? Have you spent any time reading generic articles about the stats that translate best from college to the NBA?
Stanley Johnson, Winslow, Aminu, Leonard, etc... none of those guys put up the stats OG did across the board. Some might match him in one or two categories, but he is at the top across the board in terms of steal rates, block rates, length, athleticism he is unmatched.

https://medium.com/@jzmazlish/why-og-anunoby-should-not-be-a-top-5-pick-but-should-go-in-the-top-10-564dd7408037

Andre Roberson is the closest in terms of stats, but he weighed a lot less, wasn't nearly as long, played in a much weaker conference and was a lot older

In conclusion, please name one better defensive wing prospect in the last decade.

I'm not wasting my time with this garbage man. "YOU BE CRAZY" Yallbecrazy

So when you don't have a legitimate response and can't name one better prospect you call my argument garbage and me crazy?

[Denisaur9]

With his speed and wing span I wondered why we did try tossing Siakim out more in the playoffs. Front court of Siakim, Obama and JV/Jakob/Bebe could be a miss match.

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[Mr.Raptorsingh]

Anunoby could be a monster on defence. And maybe, that's what the Raps are counting on. That's one way this team can take a step forward imo, is that he does become a DPOY candidate or All-NBA Defensive team contributor.

[Denisaur9]

Damn autocorrect Ibaka***

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[Pooh_Jeter]

You guys do realize OG tore his ACL, right? He likely won't be ready until December and there is a big difference between being "healthy" and having full strength and confidence in the knee. Have a little perspective.

[ruckus]

With his speed and wing span I wondered why we did try tossing Siakim out more in the playoffs. Front court of Siakim, Obama and JV/Jakob/Bebe could be a miss match.

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Barack with balock!

[ChromeKid]

Bruno or Bust

[Basketball_Jones]

I think Derozan is an excellent defender, most guards have a very hard time scoring on him and Lowry.

[slothrop8]

We essentially have no more small ball players on our team. Forget beating LBJ, are you guys really that confident this team could best the Bucks+Wiz or Celtics in a series? Really? Do you think we'd be the favorites in Vegas?

This team as constituted would not beat any of those teams in a series right now - nor would we be favored against any of those teams by Vegas right now if all 7 games were on a neutral court. We'd be tight to a pick'em vs the Bucks at least - though I doubt that'll still hold come mid-season. We'd be slight dogs with HCA for the series vs both the Wiz and Celts and decent size dogs without HCA for the series. Assuming average health for all, I do not expect to finish ahead of any of them in the regular season either.

What is unknown is who, if anyone, will take a step forward for us. We have more players in our rotation with a highly variable range of performance outcomes this year than some of the other good teams in the East. I expect 45-47 wins and a 5 seed or so. It's quite possible that most of our young rotation players flop and we're a little worse than that. It's also possible that at least some of those young rotation players flourish and we're better than I expect - back up over 50 wins and a top 3 seed. I certainly didn't see 56 wins coming 2 years ago - and Casey plays every regular season game like it's Game 7 of the Finals - so outperforming my regular season expectations is very much in play. A breakout or two from our younger players could mean we'd be competitive with those teams by the time the playoffs roll around.

[Kabookalu]

Time to see if Bruno will sink or swim. I've watched almost every 905 game and his defense was the reason why they were the best defensive team in the D-League. I used to think it was because of Ed Tavares, but their defense didn't suffer at all when he left, and I can't think of any other reason why they remained so good on that end of the court other than Bruno, the one constancy on the team.

With that said we really don't know if that'll transfer smoothly over to the NBA against the best and most athletic players in the world. However if this team wants to improve it has to come from the young guys, might as well see what we got.

[rapcity10]

We essentially have no more small ball players on our team. Forget beating LBJ, are you guys really that confident this team could best the Bucks+Wiz or Celtics in a series? Really? Do you think we'd be the favorites in Vegas?

This team as constituted would not beat any of those teams in a series right now - nor would we be favored against any of those teams by Vegas right now if all 7 games were on a neutral court. We'd be tight to a pick'em vs the Bucks at least - though I doubt that'll still hold come mid-season. We'd be slight dogs with HCA for the series vs both the Wiz and Celts and decent size dogs without HCA for the series. Assuming average health for all, I do not expect to finish ahead of any of them in the regular season either.

What is unknown is who, if anyone, will take a step forward for us. We have more players in our rotation with a highly variable range of performance outcomes this year than some of the other good teams in the East. I expect 45-47 wins and a 5 seed or so. It's quite possible that most of our young rotation players flop and we're a little worse than that. It's also possible that at least some of those young rotation players flourish and we're better than I expect - back up over 50 wins and a top 3 seed. I certainly didn't see 56 wins coming 2 years ago - and Casey plays every regular season game like it's Game 7 of the Finals - so outperforming my regular season expectations is very much in play. A breakout or two from our younger players could mean we'd be competitive with those teams by the time the playoffs roll around.

Bingo. Perfectly said thank you.

[ruckus]

If we still had Jared Sullinger...

I heard he ate wings for breakfast.

[Kabookalu]

This rapcity10 fellow is a nasty personality, but he does have a point here. Let's temper expectations down on OG, yeah? I remember when Corey Brewer was projected to be the next superstar defender, a mix of Ron Artest and Shane Battier. I'm excited for OG but damn guys lol

[Johnny Bball]

Refuses to bend his knees... Lmao

[slothrop8]

Time to see if Bruno will sink or swim. I've watched almost every 905 game and his defense was the reason why they were the best defensive team in the D-League. I used to think it was because of Ed Tavares, but their defense didn't suffer at all when he left, and I can't think of any other reason why they remained so good on that end of the court other than Bruno, the one constancy on the team.

With that said we really don't know if that'll transfer smoothly over to the NBA against the best and most athletic players in the world. However if this team wants to improve it has to come from the young guys, might as well see what we got.

I watched not all, but many of the 905 games - and I agree with almost all of this take. Tavares was a big key though - they were just vaporizing teams when he was still there. Once he was gone they were still great defensively and Bruno was a big part of that - but Bruno and Edy together were incredible at the DLeague level.

[Yallbecrazy]

We essentially have no more small ball players on our team. Forget beating LBJ, are you guys really that confident this team could best the Bucks+Wiz or Celtics in a series? Really? Do you think we'd be the favorites in Vegas?

This team as constituted would not beat any of those teams in a series right now - nor would we be favored against any of those teams by Vegas right now if all 7 games were on a neutral court. We'd be tight to a pick'em vs the Bucks at least - though I doubt that'll still hold come mid-season. We'd be slight dogs with HCA for the series vs both the Wiz and Celts and decent size dogs without HCA for the series. Assuming average health for all, I do not expect to finish ahead of any of them in the regular season either.

What is unknown is who, if anyone, will take a step forward for us. We have more players in our rotation with a highly variable range of performance outcomes this year than some of the other good teams in the East. I expect 45-47 wins and a 5 seed or so. It's quite possible that most of our young rotation players flop and we're a little worse than that. It's also possible that at least some of those young rotation players flourish and we're better than I expect - back up over 50 wins and a top 3 seed. I certainly didn't see 56 wins coming 2 years ago - and Casey plays every regular season game like it's Game 7 of the Finals - so outperforming my regular season expectations is very much in play. A breakout or two from our younger players could mean we'd be competitive with those teams by the time the playoffs roll around.

Bingo. Perfectly said thank you.

Sorry Slothrop, but when Rapcity agrees with your post then it's probably wrong

[Kabookalu]

Time to see if Bruno will sink or swim. I've watched almost every 905 game and his defense was the reason why they were the best defensive team in the D-League. I used to think it was because of Ed Tavares, but their defense didn't suffer at all when he left, and I can't think of any other reason why they remained so good on that end of the court other than Bruno, the one constancy on the team.

With that said we really don't know if that'll transfer smoothly over to the NBA against the best and most athletic players in the world. However if this team wants to improve it has to come from the young guys, might as well see what we got.

I watched not all, but many of the 905 games - and I agree with almost all of this take. Tavares was a big key though - they were just vaporizing teams when he was still there. Once he was gone they were still great defensively and Bruno was a big part of that - but Bruno and Edy together were incredible at the DLeague level.

Yeah not to say that Tavares was inconsequential, but I guess what I mean was that Bruno was just as responsible for the elite defense. Having them is like Gobert and Giannis on the same team. Not having either one is like the Warriors not having either one of Curry or Durant, they're still an elite team, but with them together they're arguably the best team of all time.