Realgm East Preview Podcast - WAY UNDER 37.5 wins, case for Darko hate?

[nivisi9]

Realgm Radio released their Eastern Conference preview podcast where they review over/under and Matt Moore was surprisingly "WAY UNDER 37.5 wins" for the Raptors.

His main point of contention being a "Non- believer in Darko".

I also recently listened to another podcast stating Darko concerns.

In both cases it wasn't made clear exactly what it is about Darko people are dismissing /highly negative about..

Can anyone share what exactly these points of contention / dispute may be in regards to Darko?

I thought Darko was seen as a progressive / intelligent / creative / underrated basketball mind / highly sought coaching prospect + "respected in league circles by coaches and players" prior to his hire? Was this overstated?

Or is this more a case of -- new coach taking over a team with a tanking mandate since arrival?

What may be eliciting this overly negative perceptions and concerns?

Are you concerned heading into the season about Darko subtracting rather then adding wins for this season?

What are some convincingly positive aspects of Darko's impact so far in his tenure?

[djsunyc]

THIS IS SHAME

[VanWest82]

37.5 feels like an obvious bet for the over. Weak East. Improved roster top to bottom. All we need is better injury luck and the over should be a lock.

[nivisi9]

37.5 feels like an obvious bet for the over. Weak East. Improved roster top to bottom. All we need is better injury luck and the over should be a lock.

Agreed making the "WAY UNDER" assessment even more so surprising...

What's Darko doing thats so detrimental?

are there fair concerns with his "passing/movement" centric playing style/philosophy?

[VanWest82]

37.5 feels like an obvious bet for the over. Weak East. Improved roster top to bottom. All we need is better injury luck and the over should be a lock.

Agreed making the "WAY UNDER" assessment even more so surprising...

What's Darko doing thats so detrimental?

I didn't listen to the podcast so have no idea what their reasoning is. My take is Darko is a decent developmental coach who helps instill the culture needed to keep guys engaged. Their systems are very different but he's a little like Casey in that respect. Would I trust him to get us through multiple playoff series without being outcoached? Probably not, but we're talking about RS over/unders.

Other criticisms I've heard/read:

-contracts: yes we overpaid, no that doesn't mean we'll win less this year.
-fit: seems like an odd thing to say before seeing it on the court. If anything, this seems like an area where I think Darko will really help!
-injuries: yes, we've been unlucky. Less favourable view would be we have injury-prone players. Either way, odds are we'll have better injury luck than last year which was closer to injury year from hell.

[Zeno]

These analysts, quite understandably don’t watch the day to day of the Raptors or any other team so might not appreciate how much winning was not the prime focus or even secondary focus of virtually anything they have done under Darko so far. So I can understand if there are doubts about some of the decisions he makes in game. I can’t say I have doubts about Darko as much as undecided-ness and that this is the time for him to prove he can remove the aspects of his game management that are more scrimmage/confidence building than competitive and try to win games.

This is most definitely a prove it year for Darko.

[Brinbe]

Darko as a game manager is still an obvious WIP and that may be where the criticism lies, but it's not like coaches also can't improve too with further experience. And I think the Darko we get in year three will be a bit more accomplished all-around in that regard compared to his first few seasons. I think we did see him make some positive strides last season so I don't think he's some lost cause.

They limped to 30 without even trying and winning was clearly not the number one priority for a large chunk of that time, especially in the 2nd half. Briding that gap to 38 isn't some insurmountable challenge in a weaker East. Fielding a competitive team for more than a few weeks stretch of time will definitely help in that regard unless these experts think all these young players will regress or somehow be static developmentally.

[HumbleRen]

I think Darko is great at implementing a system to get the type of shots he prefers.

The only thing that concerns me is his game sense and game management. He might be more like Coach Bud rather than someone who is adaptable in real time.

[YogurtProducer]

These analysts, quite understandably don’t watch the day to day of the Raptors or any other team so might not appreciate how much winning was not the prime focus or even secondary focus of virtually anything they have done under Darko so far. So I can understand if there are doubts about some of the decisions he makes in game. I can’t say I have doubts about Darko as much as undecided-ness and that this is the time for him to prove he can remove the aspects of his game management that are more scrimmage/confidence building than competitive and try to win games.

This is most definitely a prove it year for Darko.

How anyone can “hate” Darko when he has barely even coached teams trying to win basketball games is hilarious.

A 30-win team, that had horrible injury luck, who added Ingram/CMB, and who tanked like crazy for 1.5 months, isn’t gonna be WAY UNDER 37.5 unless we again only get 33 games from IQ, 0 from Ingram, sub 65 from Barnes/Poeltl/RJ, etc.

[Blazing_royale]

Could careless what others think of the Raptors. Majority of them don't even watch the Raptors. Lower expectation means they don't see it coming when we are blazing.

[raptor jesus]

Sounds like a pretty lazy take to me. In Darko's first season, the emphasis was clearly on overhauling the offensive play style, and the team went from bottom 10 in assists to top 10. Last season, the emphasis was on defense, and he took the team from bottom 5 to league average. Say what you will about the man's in-game coaching e.g. poor challenge record, big picture the man can coach.

[SFour]

I don't know why some people can't fathom the Raptors doing well in the regular season.....we're not even talking about the playoffs here.

If anything this Raptors team could actually be a typical fools gold team that does well in the regular season but falls short in the playoffs.

[ArthurVandelay]

Darko was a Different coach last January when the Raptors blew up their lottery odds. There is a switch that I believe can be flicked.

I wouldn’t call myself a believer in his abilities to win games, but I believe in his abilities to lose games in the name of player development.

It’s going to be interesting to watch him this year. He has 2 years head coaching experience under his belt and this is the first time winning is going to be a priority.

After BI, probably the most interesting storyline this season is Darko.

[DreamTeam09]

Darko replaced nurse because nurse was an ISO offensive coach who lacked player development.
Well Darko has made us one of the best passing and off ball movement team in the league and his player development grades high.
We also was one of the best defensive teams from January onward

Darko has done everything we asked if him so far, this year we are asking him to win & he'll do that if we maintain those same principals & health

[HiJiNX]

A lot of these pundits are uninformed idiots. There are a dozen or more posters on this board who know more about the NBA than most people who speak about it professionally or on a podcast.

[Harry Palmer]

What was the Raps Over/Under last year?

[Young Moosehead]

I don't know why some people can't fathom the Raptors doing well in the regular season.....we're not even talking about the playoffs here.

If anything this Raptors team could actually be a typical fools gold team that does well in the regular season but falls short in the playoffs.

This seems so straight forward, and our likely outcome this year. I'm surprised it isn't the accepted position for now.

Like others have said, this looks to me like the Casey led Lowry/JV/DeMar teams that pounded that rock to 45+ win seasons.

I think this year is going to be like the jump that happened between 2011-12 and 2012-13.

[CPT]

I personally think there’s a decent amount of value on the over if it’s 37.5.

However, it wouldn’t be an effective over/under if everyone agreed that it would go over. The whole point is to entice a comparable number of people to take the under. We shouldn’t be surprised that some pundits are doing so (even if I think “way under” is kinda crazy).

As for Darko, I still don’t know if he’s one of the handful of coaches who make a meaningful positive impact (seems unlikely), one of the handful who is actively bad and shouldn’t have an NBA head coaching job, or one of the many guys who has some strengths, some weaknesses, and will just kind of perform at the level of the players on the roster. I’d probably put him middle-low, but I can’t totally shake the idea that he might be better suited to be a very good assistant. Ultimately, if people are going under, it’s not surprising that he’d be cited as a reason alongside injuries and fit.

[HiJiNX]

If we are relatively healthy we are winning 45 games in a conference that only has two to three strong teams in it.

[bluerap23]

This team hasn't yet played in a game that would even allow us to evaluate the coach's x's and o's. He has shown he can do what he was hired to do - develop.