[Smith] No Raptors Trade Imminent - Could Wait Until End Of Summer League To Find Backup Center

[LoveMyRaps]

ORob is out?

Guy ruined our tank and left. SMH

[tsherkin]

While I have zero belief in the whole Draymond comparison, at the very least he shows that you can be undersized and still do the job, you just need all the other intangibles to make it work. If there is nothing else I have always defaulted to trusting, it's been this FOs ability to draft even as much as I hate adding yet another non shooter, they must've seen something in CMB.

We'll see how it goes. Height is something which bears examination, right? If he'd measured 6'9.5" without shoes, no one would mention it. And he could have been that, if he was Bosh-necked. So we'll see what happens. He certainly has the base to get into taller players, and he knows how to use his body, which is good. There are obviously concerns being undersized, but there are also not THAT many beefy monsters at the 5 these days. He'll have trouble with guys like Embiid, Zubac, Jokic, etc... but lots of guys of height would as well, so we'll see. And we did just watch what Caruso got away with managed against Joker in the playoffs. And again, doing it for 15 mpg versus 35 or 40 is also a thing, especially if he's primarily matched up against reserves.

We'll see what Darko wants to do, and what follow-up moves happen.

[tsherkin]

We have been such a joke in trying to fill the Center spot since 2020 that Orlando Robinson was the 2nd best Center weve had during that time and we let him go.

While I loved Masai, this is a results based Industry and he had none since the glory years. We dont need to hear excuses for being unable to fill a void for THAT long, do your job better.

This is a lot of bitterness without a lot of recognition of how challenging it is to acquire a player type everyone is after with resources that aren't super appealing to the rest of the league.

[Tor_Raps]

We have been such a joke in trying to fill the Center spot since 2020 that Orlando Robinson was the 2nd best Center weve had during that time and we let him go.

While I loved Masai, this is a results based Industry and he had none since the glory years. We dont need to hear excuses for being unable to fill a void for THAT long, do your job better.

This is a lot of bitterness without a lot of recognition of how challenging it is to acquire a player type everyone is after with resources that aren't super appealing to the rest of the league.

Bitterness? I just hear weak excuses lol.

Anyways, we are trying to win next year. Darko, Bobby and everyone else won't get to use the excuses you are throwing out here if next season isnt successful. Its as simple as that.

[YogurtProducer]

how many teams around the nba have 2 legit 7 footers?

3? maybe 4?

Last I checked, there's more than a bit of a difference between 6' 7" and 7' 0". Something in-between would be nice? I don't need another 7-footer. Just someone who can spell Poeltl when he sits or worse, when he's out with injury. There's nobody that can do that on this team and some minimum guy from scrap heap isn't the answer.

ok how many teams have 2 legit centers on their roster?

I would think it's less than half the league.

A back up center is not the be all and end all to win.

Not to mention for some reason he is completely ignoring 6'9" Mogbo who is the backup C as of now, and the 6'11" Castleton who is a meh player but still on the roster.

[YogurtProducer]

We have been such a joke in trying to fill the Center spot since 2020 that Orlando Robinson was the 2nd best Center weve had during that time and we let him go.

While I loved Masai, this is a results based Industry and he had none since the glory years. We dont need to hear excuses for being unable to fill a void for THAT long, do your job better.

This is a lot of bitterness without a lot of recognition of how challenging it is to acquire a player type everyone is after with resources that aren't super appealing to the rest of the league.

Bitterness? I just hear weak excuses lol.

No, you are hearing explanations you don't like.

[LoveMyRaps]

Minimum guys

Larry Nance Jr
Bol Bol
Kevon Looney
Mo Bamba


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don’t think Looney is a minimum guy.
Someone will give him a decent bit of change.

[Tor_Raps]

This is a lot of bitterness without a lot of recognition of how challenging it is to acquire a player type everyone is after with resources that aren't super appealing to the rest of the league.

Bitterness? I just hear weak excuses lol.

No, you are hearing explanations you don't like.

Agreed... I dont like them and the results over the past several years show why I dont like them...

P.s. you didnt need to delete your post yesterday. I had a response ready to go lol.

[YogurtProducer]

Bitterness? I just hear weak excuses lol.

No, you are hearing explanations you don't like.

Agreed... I dont like them and the results over the past several years show why I dont like them...

P.s. you didnt need to delete your post yesterday. I had a response ready to go lol.

Decided you weren't worth the time lol You've intentionally misinterpreted what people have said for years, you weren't gonna change today.

[Scase]

While I have zero belief in the whole Draymond comparison, at the very least he shows that you can be undersized and still do the job, you just need all the other intangibles to make it work. If there is nothing else I have always defaulted to trusting, it's been this FOs ability to draft even as much as I hate adding yet another non shooter, they must've seen something in CMB.

We'll see how it goes. Height is something which bears examination, right? If he'd measured 6'9.5" without shoes, no one would mention it. And he could have been that, if he was Bosh-necked. So we'll see what happens. He certainly has the base to get into taller players, and he knows how to use his body, which is good. There are obviously concerns being undersized, but there are also not THAT many beefy monsters at the 5 these days. He'll have trouble with guys like Embiid, Zubac, Jokic, etc... but lots of guys of height would as well, so we'll see. And we did just watch what Caruso got away with managed against Joker in the playoffs. And again, doing it for 15 mpg versus 35 or 40 is also a thing, especially if he's primarily matched up against reserves.

We'll see what Darko wants to do, and what follow-up moves happen.

Yeah I'm taking the "wait and see" approach with him, if for no other reason he's a rookie lol. But I think having him play an undersized C in college means he's not starting from 0, he just has to adjust to doing it in the NBA. Hopefully he can play bigger than his size like Wallace/Rodman/Dray/Barkley were able to.

[tsherkin]

Decided you weren't worth the time lol You've intentionally misinterpreted what people have said for years, you weren't gonna change today.

In any case, we have other issues to address with the time. And I don't think anyone is daft enough to believe "trying to win next year" is the same as "legitimately expected to exit the first round."

We were probably a .500 team last year if we were kinda healthy and not tanking. Or at least near to it. BI for 65 games plus that, we should be in semi-reasonable shape to have a respectable season. But we aren't going anywhere meaningful right at the moment, and that's okay. We'll take a step forward and win more than we lose, and we can incrementally make sound decisions building forward.

That's actually a fair bit to be excited about, given the last couple years, I think. It's enough for me to actually want to watch games, I know that much, and that's a shift.

[GLF]

The results of the last few years is not because we didn’t have a back up C lmao. We had so many more issues than that which resulted in the bad seasons. The first couple were us not even having a STARTING C. Now THAT will cause a lot of issues. Once we got Jakob not having a back up C was the least of our problems lol. If y’all think having a back up C the last two years would have made us a winning team you’re being delusional lol

[LoveMyRaps]

I’d be happy to re-sign Boucher

[GLF]

When y’all have Scase being positive in a thread you know somethings wrong lol. Maybe I should reevaluate my take lol

[ItsDanger]

Mogbo is 6'6.25 without shoes. Calling him 6'9 is erroneous.

[Tor_Raps]

The results of the last few years is not because we didn’t have a back up C lmao. We had so many more issues than that which resulted in the bad seasons. The first couple were us not even having a STARTING C. Now THAT will cause a lot of issues. Once we got Jakob not having a back up C was the least of our problems lol. If y’all think having a back up C the last two years would have made us a winning team you’re being delusional lol

Who thinks that? We were tanking the last 2 years so it didnt matter much but if you actually watched the games, you'd see the massive impact Poeltl had when he was on/off. No role player should be that important and the only reason he was because we had no good backup behind him.

Its the years where we had Fred/OG/Siakam where we were trying to win and failing. It was pretty clearly not having a true C and then just not having enough depth overall (where a backup C played a part) were some of the big reasons.

Anyways, we are trying to win next year. No more excuses for anyone.

[tsherkin]

Mogbo is 6'6.25 without shoes. Calling him 6'9 is erroneous.

Yeah, I went initially off of the b-ref listed height. But he was 6'6.25, 215 lbs, with a 7'2 wingspan. Good call.

[tsherkin]

Its the years where we had Fred/OG/Siakam where we were trying to win and failing. It was pretty clearly not having a true C and then just not having enough depth overall (where a backup C played a part) were some of the big reasons.

You mean 2020 and 2022?

2020, when Kyle and Fred played 58 and 54 games, Pascal played 60, Powell played 52, Ibaka played 55 and Marc Gasol played 44? Injuries screwed that team, not roster.

2022? When Fred played 65 games, Pascal played 68, OG played 48 and we were 4th-worst in the league at making shots?

C'mon, man. Injuries are a thing. Not having your core players for huge stretches of the season overrides any concerns over a backup center.

[GLF]

Yes Jakob isn’t a star, but one day y’all are gonna have to have a little more respect for how good Jakob is. This downplaying his talent because we didn’t have a back up C is starting to get ridiculous lol. I promise y’all other than the top back up Cs in the league, even if we had a backup C Jakob’s impact would still have been very large. I know y’all hated the timing of the trade, but Jakob is a very good player and his impact isn’t just because we had no back up C.

His impact is what it is because he fits our system perfectly. Other than shooting he does everything you want a big man to do very well and some extra stuff like passing that most big men can’t do. Great screener, great rebounder, good defender, great pick and roll player, nimble for his size, great finisher, has a really good push shot, you don’t have to give him the ball directly at the basket for him to score in the paint, good footwork in the paint for a 7 footer etc. No backup C is doing ALL those things better than Jakob (especially the passing part) along with being 6’10-7 feet tall, so his impact would still be what it is.

[ConSarnit]

Considering the team fell off a cliff for the month that Poeltl was out, I just don't know about this plan. We may need a back up better than Castleton and if we wait we two weeks we end up with a Plumlee type.

I do hope for Isaiah Jackson who is restricted but I think Indy focuses on Turner and Thomas Bryant who became their folk hero. My preference would actually be Bryant, but I think we are looking at offering a vet minimum salary.

If Poeltl goes down for an for extended stretch we are screwed unless they make a big trade for a comparable player. Playing plumlee or any other min guy 30 mins isn't going to save us.

Or you just play small ball for that period of time like OKC did when Holmgren went down (and especially when Chet AND Hartenstein went down at the same time).

Unless Jak misses 40+ games, there is no reason IMO we could not in a pinch "make it work" with Scottie/Mogbo/CMB as our small ball C. Jalen **** Williams does it IN THE WEST against much better centers.

This ignores the massive difference in roster construction between us and OKC. Do you think it’s easier to defend the rim when you have guys like Caruso or Dort defending the perimeter or guys like IQ and RJ? It’s far easier for your defense to hold up going small when you have elite defenders at other positions. How many times has small ball defense actually worked when not surrounded by great perimeter defenders?