Froob wrote:Double Helix wrote:Froob wrote:Agreed, when it comes down to it you gotta take a Lowry led team over a Kyrie led team in the playoffs.
We’ve yet to see a Kyrie-lead team make the playoffs. This will be the first year that happens.
The rest were Lebron-lead teams.
Well I think it’s a lot easier to count on Kyrie to take over a big game than it is on Lowry. The advantages the Raps have had on us past few years aren’t there anymore. They won’t kill us on the boards anymore and JB does a much better job on DeRozen than Bradley did. Kyrie is a lot better defender than IT. It’d be fun to see, hope we finally get this playoff series this year.
This wasn’t supposed to become a Celtics vs Raptors thread. *Sigh* However, since some seem to insist on it becoming that let’s get into it.
The Raptors have a much higher net rating over the second half of this short season so far. The Raptors have changed their offensive approach to much fanfare. The New York Times and Washington Post have both highlighted how different the team is now and how much better the Raptors make use of their supporting cast than before and how they have increased ball movement and 3 point shooting more than ever before. However, the Raptors can fall back on isolation or high pick and rolls with the shot clock winding down after years of playoff intensity basketball where that’s all they played. They set up their new style and once defences have to respect their new varied attack and the long ball and try to guard Derozan or Lowry one on one again those 2 can go to work. Being capable of a variety of different approaches to offence makes the Lowry and Derozan duo more dangerous than ever before. They truly do take what the defence gives now and few other duos over the past 3 years have seen as much playoff defensive tactics aimed at shutting them down and forcing the others to beat them than they have. It took them some time but they’ve learned to adapt to that level of defensive attention now.
The Raptors seem stronger than years past, not weaker. This is because of some terrific bargains and draft steals and an injection of younger players that are extending their compete window.
So much has been made about how the Celtics were able to add talented youth while being competive and that’s deserved. It’s almost unprecedented to add two top 3 picks while being good. However, the Raptors have narrowed the gap with two top 15 players at their respective positions via Real +/- in Jakob Poeltl and OG Anunoby. Both are terrific defenders with upside and perfect fits on the Raptors. Anunoby is locking down legit superstars at age 20. He can handle the Celtics best wing. He’s not the only guy though. Norman Powell is another freak athlete the Raptors can throw at Celtics offensive weapons, including Kyrie himself. Poeltl and OG have top 10 draft pick talent and Powell is somebody who should have gone top 20. These 3 in particular help narrow the young talent gap but they’re not alone.
Hayward’s impact may have been inflated on the Jazz based on the lack of talented players providing what he can behind him there and the perks of playing with Gobert to erase mistakes. He’s really not much better than Derozan in a head to head matchup if at all. Raptors fans and even Jazz fans I think would attest to that. When those two play each other they seem close at most. Derozan has outplayed him several times. Speaking of head to head matchups... Lowry has traditionally played well against Kyrie’s soft defence and hasn’t had many problems versus Smart’s elite defence for that matter either. Lowry has been able to out-think Smart when the Celtics have tried that.
This versatility extends to Casey’s defensive options now too. He can play small with Ibaka at the 5. He can have Siakam at the 4, Anunoby at the 3 and Powell at the 2 and Lowry at the 1 for one of the most switch-heavy multi-positional defensive looks in the league for the final 5 minutes of a game and that unit poses all sorts of problems for starting caliber offenses if the Raptors have a lead. The Celtics will be very good for years but I’m not convinced they are a tier above the new look Raptors even when Hayward is back. Perhaps in another 2 years they will be but even then the Raptors have some young players with upside too. It will be interesting to see how they incorporate Kyrie, Hayward, Tatum, Brown and Horford because all are worthy of 35 minutes but won’t get it, minimizing somebody’s value and the “boost” that Hayward will provide.
