Former Raptor discussion thread 3.0

[tecumseh18]

Ooh, Norm took an elbow. Says he's okay, thank God.

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[WaltFrazier]

13 and 5 at halftime

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[Jstock12]

JV might win his first superbowl today

[Statistician MK]

JV might win his first superbowl today

JV or Kelce?:)

[sbsat]

Precious is balling for the knicks. Raptors real gm is wrong on so many damn things

[Jstock12]

JV might win his first superbowl today

JV or Kelce?:)

[WaltFrazier]

Precious is balling for the knicks. Raptors real gm is wrong on so many damn things

Oh no, he's not doing anything we haven't seen before, blah blah. So much insecurity around here

[ItsDanger]

Thad Young's leadership joins Phoenix. Amazing their GM got him for nothing. Hmmm

[bboyskinnylegs]

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[mdenny]

Suns picked up Thad. That's a low-key decent move for them i think.

[And1Skip]

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LOL did Scottie gift Pascal a PS5? (the PS5 was wrapped in a ribbon and he said "shout out scottie"). And how did that McD's employee not know it was him?? The dude ordered 3 Siakam swirls and literally no one buys that in the winter.

[Kingsway_fan]

Thad Young's leadership joins Phoenix. Amazing their GM got him for nothing. Hmmm

Indiana got Pascal for nothing....Masai... the brilliant asset manager

[sbsat]

Precious is balling for the knicks. Raptors real gm is wrong on so many damn things

Oh no, he's not doing anything we haven't seen before, blah blah. So much insecurity around here

precious with another stud of a game. Whats the excuse today from the excuse makers?

[WaltFrazier]

Precious is balling for the knicks. Raptors real gm is wrong on so many damn things

Oh no, he's not doing anything we haven't seen before, blah blah. So much insecurity around here

precious with another stud of a game. Whats the excuse today from the excuse makers?

23/14/5 assists including a sweet lob on the run to Toppin's brother.

People don't realize the effort involved in rebounding. He is not Moses Malone but is relentless on the boards like Moses. Magic announcers were very impressed

[mdenny]

So far it seems like every former raptor has exceeded expectations at their new team except for Adrian Griffin which was a bizarre situation.

Didn't stop Messiah from saying he was right all along about fred because Jalen green has struggled which is HILARIOUSLY disingenuous.

I guess Pascal is more a case of meeting expectations more or less so far while he settles into the new team.

But it's worth noting....not a single hater narrative common on the board last season has been reaffirmed. (Did anyone hate Adrian? It's true that alot of ppl hated our eccentric team defense)

[johanliebert]

Oh no, he's not doing anything we haven't seen before, blah blah. So much insecurity around here

precious with another stud of a game. Whats the excuse today from the excuse makers?

23/14/5 assists including a sweet lob on the run to Toppin's brother.

People don't realize the effort involved in rebounding. He is not Moses Malone but is relentless on the boards like Moses. Magic announcers were very impressed

tbh this board loved Achiuwa until this season. The hustle plays and tenacity were always there it was just the ill advised shots.

[WaltFrazier]

Banton in two games with Portland:

26 minutes 16 pts 5 reb 3 Asst
25 min 12/3/3

Saw a highlight of a nice drive and Trae-like lob to Ayton. Hope he finds a home there and carves out a decent career.

The highlight is for Ayton here but Dalano makes the pass.

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[ciueli]

Great article on OG's impact in NY.

https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/39445538/how-defensive-ace-og-anunoby-turbo-charged-new-york-knicks-offense

Some pretty wild stuff...

It will always be a mystery to me how a team with OG, Pascal, Fred, Scottie and Poeltl and coached by Nick Nurse couldn't be, y'know, really good. Although seemingly more talented than the 2019-2020 Raps that had the 2nd best record overall, they finished at .500 last year. But even then they were lucky with opposing team's injuries - e.g. the doubleheader against the Greenboro Hornets where Fred racked up his 20-20 (can't believe they mentioned that in the tribute video).

It's not a mystery, in the time they were together only two of those 5 were decent 3 point shooters (Fred and OG) and neither of them were really good at off the dribble 3s, they're both more spot up shooter 3s types which means they would need someone else to create shots for them. It's the 2020s, the league is very quickly moving toward teams wanting at least 4 3 point shooters on the floor at all times and preferably 5, you're not getting anywhere with 1-2. Scottie improved this year, but we lost Fred and replaced him with Schroder who was an even worse 3 point shooter, so still 2/5 in the starting lineup who could credibly make an open 3, not surprising this has been a terrible team all season.

Ultimately, I blame MLSE (and/or Ed Rogers) for not believing in those players enough to be willing to go into the tax to give them a bench. Look at how much the Sixers and Celtics are spending. I understand the usual formula is to have the core show their worth before spending exorbitant amounts. But we're in Canada, and we need to spend more to stay even with the rest of the league.

I'm not the biggest Ed Rogers fan around, but you can't seriously blame him, he doesn't have any real power with MLSE anyway. Realistically, a corporation like MLSE is about making money and spending into the tax to fund a mediocre team is something none of the other 29 owners in the NBA are willing to do either, it's just unrealistic. Even if Masai had the option of spending into the tax it wouldn't have made a difference anyway, it's not like we would have had the option to just poach another star player from another team, there are severe restrictions on how you can spend money once you're over the cap. It might have meant we could have kept Fred over Schroder by matching what Houston threw at him in free agency, but again, why be a deep tax team just to lose in the first round of the play-in tournament again?

[lobosloboslobos]

Banton in two games with Portland:

26 minutes 16 pts 5 reb 3 Asst
25 min 12/3/3

Saw a highlight of a nice drive and Trae-like lob to Ayton. Hope he finds a home there and carves out a decent career.

The highlight is for Ayton here but Dalano makes the pass.

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Hey that's great. I didn't even realize he'd been traded. it would be a sad reflection on our coaching staff if both Precious and Dalano go on to fulfill elsewhere the potential they showed here. I hope they do though for their sakes.

[Duffman100]

Banton in two games with Portland:

26 minutes 16 pts 5 reb 3 Asst
25 min 12/3/3

Saw a highlight of a nice drive and Trae-like lob to Ayton. Hope he finds a home there and carves out a decent career.

The highlight is for Ayton here but Dalano makes the pass.

Read on Twitter

Hey that's great. I didn't even realize he'd been traded. it would be a sad reflection on our coaching staff if both Precious and Dalano go on to fulfill elsewhere the potential they showed here. I hope they do though for their sakes.

Banton is slashing 39/29/67 with them. If it wasn't portland, he'd likely not be getting any minutes.