PG: BBQ era Begins

[LoveMyRaps]

Outlier shooting but I've been thoroughly impressed with RJ



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He gets respect from refs on drives

He is Star J after all.

All jokes aside, he earns those fouls. That's always been a strength of his. The ability to attack the rim and absorb contact.

[Tha Cynic]

Once IQ gets that floater down he'll be unstoppable.

Yea his floater/finishing at the rim has been poor. That 3 is cash money though

Need to use iq more off ball and stop trying to run offense through him. He’s more of a combo guard than pure pg. run offense through Scottie and even let Barrett go downhill and create. IQ is a shooter and that’s his best asset to us.

IQ needs someone who can set screens well. Barnes and he need to work together on that, but having Poeltl back will help.

[ForeverTFC]

The starting lineup tonight was...

Barnes 22 years old
Barrett 23 years old
Quickley 24 years old
Porter 24 years old
Trent Jr 25 years old

Gary is 24.

25 tomorrow

Koloko 23 years old should have been in there - here's hoping he comes back next season.

[mdenny]

They say every year draft is weak.Cmon

Yeah but this draft was supposed to be so weak that Raptors felt safe to put a weak ass protection on the pick to trade to Spurs for Poeltl. And apologists have been telling us so many times that 2024 draft is supposed to be a historically weak draft. Weaker than it's been for years so it was supposed to be ok even if they end up losing a lottery pick. And now, just because they got couple of late picks in the same draft, we are supposed all of a sudden believe it's magically now better?

Who's telling you it's better that previously was not? From what I've seen, most people have kept their position consistent on the value of the '24 draft.

The return for Siakam was underwhelming. 2 picks in this draft sucks. But I'm not sure where you're getting this long term piece to add to the core from. There's been no rumors in the last 2 years that any team has offered any young player of value for Siakam. The real head scratcher is why we didn't re-sign Siakam and why the FO was antagonizing him so much this year, but we also have to recognize that we don't know what's been going on in the locker room over the last 2 years.

Let's see what they do with Bruce Brown; that is a pretty valuable contract. It's also a bonus that we didn't take any bad contracts back in the deal. You say they've fumbled most things over the last few years, but they hit a home run on the most important decision we've had: Scottie.

Like always....the toxic posters are accusing everyone of doing what THEY do lol.

The only people flip-flopping on the strength of the draft are those who have been incessantly bemoaning our lost pick for the past year.....and now the picks we received today are 'virtually worthless' because the draft is bad (an assertion they've been resisting up until the past 2 days).

There's not a single poster I've seen who's suddenly thought this draft wasn't bad the past two days.

There's like 20 to 30 posters who've been saying either 1. the draft is not bad or 2. it doesn't matter that the draft is bad for the past year. Suddenly....the quality of the draft is like the most important thing in the world to them. How else to use this place for their temper tantrums?

Like clockwork.

[Tripod]

Once IQ gets that floater down he'll be unstoppable.

Yea his floater/finishing at the rim has been poor. That 3 is cash money though

Need to use iq more off ball and stop trying to run offense through him. He’s more of a combo guard than pure pg. run offense through Scottie and even let Barrett go downhill and create. IQ is a shooter and that’s his best asset to us.

Barnes in the hub

RJ curling around the screen

Barnes with the option of dumping it to RJ, kicking out to IQ, or take it himself

This should yield the best results for us.

[Parataxis]

The starting lineup tonight was...

Barnes 22 years old
Barrett 23 years old
Quickley 24 years old
Porter 24 years old
Trent Jr 25 years old

I really appreciate that Porter is younger than Porter Jr

[Sandman88]

Koloko waived. Damn

[pingpongrac]

There were a lot of good (or even great) things about tonight, but I can't get over what Darko did to Gradey lol. He played so well in his first stint then after a couple of rookie mistakes – one of which just being a rookie then getting called for a weak offensive foul – Darko benched him early in the 4th until garbage time. He's been doing it all season and it's why we've rarely seen Gradey for more than 4-5 minutes at a time then nothing until the game is practically over. He did a similar thing to Quickley and Porter tonight too (and Barrett in other recent games) opting to play Thad and Schroder down the stretch and for nearly 30 minutes each over the course of the game. Similarly, he has benched Boucher for a mistake or two on several occasions this season. I don't care as much about Boucher getting benched on these occasions, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth when some young guys gets benched for a bad play or two.

It was a critical moment the game, our lead was evaporating, and Dick was getting burned on cuts. Benching Dick was absolutely the right decision.

And Boucher has been horrendous, don't know how anyone can complain about him being benched. Thad and Schroeder have played well despite their limitations.

It was a critical moment of the game, but our lead wasn't evaporating because of Gradey getting burned on cuts. The first basket was an open layup because of a miscommunication between Gradey and Boucher on a switch, Bam scored on a short jumper over Porter then Martin got an offensive rebound after FOUR Raptors stood under the net and failed to get the board which cut our lead to 17...but our lead evaporated because we scored 18 points in the first 15 minutes of the second half while giving up numerous layups. Our defence was terrible in the 3rd and we were lucky to only allow 30 points.

I wasn't complaining about Boucher being benched though. I was just pointing out that Darko has given a quick hook to certain players this season while some others seemingly have an incredibly long leash. Schroder and Thad were both good tonight and they've generally been good lately, but at 16-25 at this point in the season, I just think we should be giving a few more minutes to our youth.

[Reeko]

Koloko waived. Damn

Cut throat business. I hope he recovers and lands ok somewhere.

[Yuri Vaultin]

This is the problem with short-sighted people. Can't see nothing beyond what's right in front of them. And often not even that. Can't look back. Can't look forward. There have been many calls by many people to trade Siakam long before things came to this point. Where there would've been offers better than the garbage the team accepted. The fact that they punted this decision for as long as they did is why the offers got so bad. Also, the option of extension should have been open to them but they closed that shut due to mismanagement of relationships.

Or maybe, just maybe there has not been interest in him and the deals offered had poison pill contracts within.

It's easy to say we should trade pmayer a for a star and 5 picks; far more challenging to actually do it. Siakam is a Robin, yet everyone expected a Batman haul.

You think we wouldn't have gotten better offers if Siakam had one more year left on his deal? Simple logic and basic understanding of NBA history would allow you to understand you are talking outta your ass there.

We got bunch of garbage and nothings. How is expecting to get something more than that a Batman haul now?

We got market value. Using simple logic and basic understanding of NBA and Masai's history would allow you to understand you are talking outta your ass there.

Masai sets a price and holds firm and is not afraid to pull the trigger. There's an unfounded assumption that there were teams offering far more last season. What teams? Outside of the Durant and Irving deals all other trades involved garbage and 2nd round picks. Because we value him, doesn't mean other teams valued Siakam the same. You need a buyer with both a need and similar evaluation.

In anycase, like most deals time will tell. It will be looked back upon in 2028 as either great, crap or even Steven.

[Boogie!]

Yea his floater/finishing at the rim has been poor. That 3 is cash money though

Need to use iq more off ball and stop trying to run offense through him. He’s more of a combo guard than pure pg. run offense through Scottie and even let Barrett go downhill and create. IQ is a shooter and that’s his best asset to us.

IQ needs someone who can set screens well. Barnes and he need to work together on that, but having Poeltl back will help.

I just don’t think he has natural pg tendencies. He seems to always be looking for his shot and doesn’t really have good court vision… I don’t see him as being this traditional pg long term and I think the ball shouldn’t be in his hands as much regardless.

Someone compared him to fvv somewhere, and while he’s clearly more offensively talented than fvv, he does have similar annoying tendencies.

I think he’s good to get a basket in a pinch though, but he reminds me more of like a terry rozier type. But yeah run more offense through Scottie and Barrett and again use his off ball shooting more which his greatest asset to us.

[aminiaturebuddha]

More of this pls

Dare I say it, that play was very 2014 Spurs-like.

Ball movement like that can be so nice to watch (and also very effective because it's hard for a defence to scheme against). I can't wait to see what the offence looks like in a year or two once the guys are more familiar with Darko's system and each other.

[Potential]

The New Era Raptors make their NBA on TNT debut tomorrow night in Toronto!

[Scott Hall]

In the 90's the kids had MJ and Scottie...

In the 2020's the kids have RJ and Scottie

[Tripod]

Koloko waived. Damn

That sucks. Liked what he brought when he played.

Hope he gets healthy and has a career

[aminiaturebuddha]

Great way to start the BBQ era. The 3rd quarter was obviously a bit rough, but you knew a team like Miami wasn't just going to roll over and die.

Obviously the Raps aren't going to shoot over 50% from three every game, or have an opponent shoot 20% but there were still some good takeaways - especially the ball movement on offence, and the overall commitment on defence.

Hell, I even liked those minutes in the first half that we got from that new Gradey Dick guy that we got in the Siakam trade.

And ever since that overblown PatBev quote there's been a lot of talk about canine tendencies on the team. I don't think we need to worry. I think Scottie and RJ both have that dog in them.

[kleatius_01]

Change title pls: Nwora era Begins

[lobosloboslobos]

Gradey Dick with 2 3s (his only shots) plus 4 assists and 2 steals in 12 minutes for a +14

need more dick.

[PushDaRock]

There were a lot of good (or even great) things about tonight, but I can't get over what Darko did to Gradey lol. He played so well in his first stint then after a couple of rookie mistakes – one of which just being a rookie then getting called for a weak offensive foul – Darko benched him early in the 4th until garbage time. He's been doing it all season and it's why we've rarely seen Gradey for more than 4-5 minutes at a time then nothing until the game is practically over. He did a similar thing to Quickley and Porter tonight too (and Barrett in other recent games) opting to play Thad and Schroder down the stretch and for nearly 30 minutes each over the course of the game. Similarly, he has benched Boucher for a mistake or two on several occasions this season. I don't care as much about Boucher getting benched on these occasions, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth when some young guys gets benched for a bad play or two.

It was a critical moment the game, our lead was evaporating, and Dick was getting burned on cuts. Benching Dick was absolutely the right decision.

And Boucher has been horrendous, don't know how anyone can complain about him being benched. Thad and Schroeder have played well despite their limitations.

It was a critical moment of the game, but our lead wasn't evaporating because of Gradey getting burned on cuts. The first basket was an open layup because of a miscommunication between Gradey and Boucher on a switch, Bam scored on a short jumper over Porter then Martin got an offensive rebound after FOUR Raptors stood under the net and failed to get the board which cut our lead to 17...but our lead evaporated because we scored 18 points in the first 15 minutes of the second half while giving up numerous layups. Our defence was terrible in the 3rd and we were lucky to only allow 30 points.

I wasn't complaining about Boucher being benched though. I was just pointing out that Darko has given a quick hook to certain players this season while some others seemingly have an incredibly long leash. Schroder and Thad were both good tonight and they've generally been good lately, but at 16-25 at this point in the season, I just think we should be giving a few more minutes to our youth.

Even if you're trying to develop or even tank, this was not a game we could afford to lose after the lead we built up. You don't want the record for the biggest comeback in NBA history.

[niQ]

Outlier shooting but I've been thoroughly impressed with RJ



Sent from my KB2005 using RealGM mobile app

He gets respect from refs on drives

He is Star J after all.

All jokes aside, he earns those fouls. That's always been a strength of his. The ability to attack the rim and absorb contact.

Now he just needs to work on those Free Throws...