Bill Simmons RIPS the Raptors roster and salaries. (UPDATE Zach Lowe & Rob Mahoney go in on Raptors)

[Yeezus_]

Zach and Rob also said they are still super bullish on Barnes.

Very interested in Barnes with a healthy Quickley and Ingram along with the shooters (Shead, Dick, Walter, Battle) taking the next step. He could be poised for a monster season.

Super excited about Walter. There’s something about hhis game that screams starter to me down the road. Love his ability to draw contact especially. His defense and shooting is coming along nicely too.

[OakleyDokely]

Zach and Rob also said they are still super bullish on Barnes.

Very interested in Barnes with a healthy Quickley and Ingram along with the shooters (Shead, Dick, Walter, Battle) taking the next step. He could be poised for a monster season.

Super excited about Walter. There’s something about hhis game that screams starter to me down the road. Love his ability to draw contact especially. His defense and shooting is coming along nicely too.

It will be interesting how they use Walter. He's very crafty with the ball and he was efficient in many actions.

Off Screens: 78th percentile
Handoffs: 82nd percentile
Pick & Roll Man: 93rd percentile

[Duffman100]

Zach and Rob also said they are still super bullish on Barnes.

Very interested in Barnes with a healthy Quickley and Ingram along with the shooters (Shead, Dick, Walter, Battle) taking the next step. He could be poised for a monster season.

Super excited about Walter. There’s something about hhis game that screams starter to me down the road. Love his ability to draw contact especially. His defense and shooting is coming along nicely too.

Yeah I have Walter above Dick right now. I think Dick has more offensive room to grow for potential but Walter is more likely to be the impact player.

People are all being way too negative, we have a bunch of fun storylines going into this next season.

[OakleyDokely]

Walter will be the most impressive young player this year imo.

He has the most strengths and fewest glaring weaknesses of all the young guys. He can play in all kinds of lineups.

[OakleyDokely]

By the way, listen to Zach Lowe. Less hot takes, more knowledge.

[CPT]

I wouldn’t say Zach and Rob ripped the Raptors, but they brought them up as one of their “WTF is this team doing?” teams.

Zach is assuming (likely correctly) that we will be starting the highest paid guys, running out IQ/RJ/Ingram/Barnes/Jak. He’s not sure how that’s going to work, nor what we plan to do with all of the guards that aren’t in that lineup.

That is to say, he’s not really low on the Raps, just not really sure what they’re going to look like.

[mtcan]

I wouldn’t say Zach and Rob ripped the Raptors, but they brought them up as one of their “WTF is this team doing?” teams.

Zach is assuming (likely correctly) that we will be starting the highest paid guys, running out IQ/RJ/Ingram/Barnes/Jak. He’s not sure how that’s going to work, nor what we plan to do with all of the guards that aren’t in that lineup.

That is to say, he’s not really low on the Raps, just not really sure what they’re going to look like.

To be fair...we are all wondering the same thing.

October can't come soon enough.

And yes you can choose to look at this with a pessimistic eye or optimistic. We will only know when the ball goes up in October.

If this is failing by December...we will certainly be sellers by trade deadline.

[Duffman100]

I wouldn’t say Zach and Rob ripped the Raptors, but they brought them up as one of their “WTF is this team doing?” teams.

Zach is assuming (likely correctly) that we will be starting the highest paid guys, running out IQ/RJ/Ingram/Barnes/Jak. He’s not sure how that’s going to work, nor what we plan to do with all of the guards that aren’t in that lineup.

That is to say, he’s not really low on the Raps, just not really sure what they’re going to look like.

To be fair...we are all wondering the same thing.

October can't come soon enough.

And yes you can choose to look at this with a pessimistic eye or optimistic. We will only know when the ball goes up in October.

If this is failing by December...we will certainly be sellers by trade deadline.

Pessimistic or optimistic, we have a bunch of fun storylines to follow.

Will Quickley and Ingram be healthy?
Will Barnes improve his game and take the next step?
How does Ochai/Walter/Dick logjam resolve itself?
Will RJ get traded?
What does CMB look like in his rookie year, positive contributer?
Does Mamu give us some good bench minutes behind Poeltl?
Do either Mogbo or Chomche carve out a role?
Will Shead be a reliable backup PG again?

I don't know, I'm just excited to have a fun variety of topics to keep an eye on.

[AkelaLoneWolf]

I wouldn’t say Zach and Rob ripped the Raptors, but they brought them up as one of their “WTF is this team doing?” teams.

Zach is assuming (likely correctly) that we will be starting the highest paid guys, running out IQ/RJ/Ingram/Barnes/Jak. He’s not sure how that’s going to work, nor what we plan to do with all of the guards that aren’t in that lineup.

That is to say, he’s not really low on the Raps, just not really sure what they’re going to look like.

Is this the most recent one? In the previous one he doesn’t think raps are as good as the heat post norm trade but it’s tough to make a fair assessment given no one knows how this team will fit and health assessment etc

[DG88]

I wouldn’t say Zach and Rob ripped the Raptors, but they brought them up as one of their “WTF is this team doing?” teams.

Zach is assuming (likely correctly) that we will be starting the highest paid guys, running out IQ/RJ/Ingram/Barnes/Jak. He’s not sure how that’s going to work, nor what we plan to do with all of the guards that aren’t in that lineup.

That is to say, he’s not really low on the Raps, just not really sure what they’re going to look like.

To be fair...we are all wondering the same thing.

October can't come soon enough.

And yes you can choose to look at this with a pessimistic eye or optimistic. We will only know when the ball goes up in October.

If this is failing by December...we will certainly be sellers by trade deadline.

Pessimistic or optimistic, we have a bunch of fun storylines to follow.

Will Quickley and Ingram be healthy?
Will Barnes improve his game and take the next step?
How does Ochai/Walter/Dick logjam resolve itself?
Will RJ get traded?
What does CMB look like in his rookie year, positive contributer?
Does Mamu give us some good bench minutes behind Poeltl?
Do either Mogbo or Chomche carve out a role?
Will Shead be a reliable backup PG again?

I don't know, I'm just excited to have a fun variety of topics to keep an eye on.

It's going to be interesting how this team looks in the first 20 games. They're a ? now in terms of how good they can be. I remember we thought the Barnes and IQ dynamic would synergize well, but that hasn't really materialized. Yet the Jak and IQ dynamic worked right off the bat. For me there are few players I'm keen on seeing their growth. Ja'Kobe should be a fun one this season and I'm curious how they'll deploy CMB and Barnes in defensive lineups.

[Dalek]

I wouldn’t say Zach and Rob ripped the Raptors, but they brought them up as one of their “WTF is this team doing?” teams.

Zach is assuming (likely correctly) that we will be starting the highest paid guys, running out IQ/RJ/Ingram/Barnes/Jak. He’s not sure how that’s going to work, nor what we plan to do with all of the guards that aren’t in that lineup.

That is to say, he’s not really low on the Raps, just not really sure what they’re going to look like.

They are very low on the Raptor's if you listen on. Zach Lowe who knows basketball and has no agenda and same with Mahoney both said that they don't know how you have a functional offense with Barnes, Barrett, and Ingram as a core.

To me it's about like when we had Rudy, DeMar and Lowry. There is talent, but no fit and they become difficult contracts.

Lowe especially was worried about the future. If Toronto wishes to be middling and use these players for a future trade he basically says it is a poor strategy, saying good players like Norm and Collins got traded for nothing.

Toronto is no doubt a black box because we just don't know, but at the same time we cannot expect it all to fit. To me, moving RJ is a start. Get a true shooter in the starting five and then see what it is. Right now there are way too many guys who do not complement Barnes.

[gerrit4]

The Lowe/Mahoney takes are pretty fair. I do find it a bit strange that they ignored Ingram as a shooter (essentially saying the only guy in our starting lineup who can shoot is IQ). I think that that also overstated our contract issues. Yeah, we may not get a lot back for guys like RJ, IQ, and Ingram, but I also don't really think that unloading them is a problem either.

My guess is that we'll see RJ get unloaded for a lesser player on a lesser salary. For example, a straight up RJ for Kuzma trade. That would clear a bit of our wing logjam (I feel like we'll want to start one of Gradey, Jakobe or Ochai) while saving us $5mill.

[DG88]

Very interested in Barnes with a healthy Quickley and Ingram along with the shooters (Shead, Dick, Walter, Battle) taking the next step. He could be poised for a monster season.

Super excited about Walter. There’s something about hhis game that screams starter to me down the road. Love his ability to draw contact especially. His defense and shooting is coming along nicely too.

Yeah I have Walter above Dick right now. I think Dick has more offensive room to grow for potential but Walter is more likely to be the impact player.

People are all being way too negative, we have a bunch of fun storylines going into this next season.

Same here. I personally wasn't a fan of draft Dick mainly for his defense, which I thought was lacking. He has to be able to stay on the floor. If he can't Ja'Kobe leaps him in the rotation.

[Duffman100]

Super excited about Walter. There’s something about hhis game that screams starter to me down the road. Love his ability to draw contact especially. His defense and shooting is coming along nicely too.

Yeah I have Walter above Dick right now. I think Dick has more offensive room to grow for potential but Walter is more likely to be the impact player.

People are all being way too negative, we have a bunch of fun storylines going into this next season.

Same here. I personally wasn't a fan of draft Dick mainly for his defense, which I thought was lacking. He has to be able to stay on the floor. If he can't Ja'Kobe leaps him in the rotation.

I honestly thought Dick would be a better defender than he has been. Also thought he'd be a better shooter.

I'm with Reeko where I see this untapped potential. He reads the game well, makes the right play, has sneaky offensive potential. But so many guys in the history of the NBA had that as well and it never materialized.

[Kingsway_fan]

Very interested in Barnes with a healthy Quickley and Ingram along with the shooters (Shead, Dick, Walter, Battle) taking the next step. He could be poised for a monster season.

Super excited about Walter. There’s something about hhis game that screams starter to me down the road. Love his ability to draw contact especially. His defense and shooting is coming along nicely too.

Yeah I have Walter above Dick right now. I think Dick has more offensive room to grow for potential but Walter is more likely to be the impact player.

People are all being way too negative, we have a bunch of fun storylines going into this next season.

Yeah, quite a few in the "Doom and Gloom" camp... I am quite optimistic about this roster, as is --' both in our starting five, and also in the depth we finally seem to have across all positions. Securing a backup 4 and 5 has filled in the immediate needs.

I would like to not do panic trades at this point, preferring to see how training camp and the early season goes. We should be competitive with almost all Eastern Conference teams.

[raptor jesus]

I'm optimistic about the upcoming season for several reasons: the team was surprisingly competitive last season even though they were tanking, they made a big leap defensively, despite all the focus on the starting lineup the team has a lot of youth who are bound to improve, the East is weaker, plus teams will be tanking for a strong 2026 draft. That said, I think it's perfectly reasonable to be critical of the current state of the Raptors until they prove it on the court.

[Badonkadonk]

By the way, listen to Zach Lowe. Less hot takes, more knowledge.

Just listened to it, he was great and the criticism was fair. At least he went down the roster and most importantly addressed how the pieces fit. He actually had decent things to say about most of the pieces themselves, particularly Scottie.

Bobby used the term "talent acquisition mode", which is a strong signal to me that the roster will look pretty different a year from now. They're clearly building up to a consolidation trade, and obviously have precedent for this action. This is largely why I'm not concerned about how things currently fit, especially given how Darko runs his offense.

The segment (it was short, less than 10 mins I think?) also reinforced my belief that the Raptors have one of the widest range-of-probabilities for wins/losses this year in the whole league.

[ForeverTFC]

I wouldn’t say Zach and Rob ripped the Raptors, but they brought them up as one of their “WTF is this team doing?” teams.

Zach is assuming (likely correctly) that we will be starting the highest paid guys, running out IQ/RJ/Ingram/Barnes/Jak. He’s not sure how that’s going to work, nor what we plan to do with all of the guards that aren’t in that lineup.

That is to say, he’s not really low on the Raps, just not really sure what they’re going to look like.

Is this the most recent one? In the previous one he doesn’t think raps are as good as the heat post norm trade but it’s tough to make a fair assessment given no one knows how this team will fit and health assessment etc

I haven't listened to the latest one yet, but in that last one he took that back a bit. He "pfft" the Raptors and then said something to the effect of - and I'm paraphrasing - "I actually I shouldn't pfft the Raptors. They can win more than Miami, I just wouldn't bet everything on that today".

Lowe's view has been very similar to the "middle" of our fan base for a while. Hard to understand fit, some belief in Scottie with a real dose of skepticism, curious on how it works and what the next move is, some questions for the FO on specific moves but a supporter of them at a higher level (prior to the Masai firing).

[ForeverTFC]

By the way, listen to Zach Lowe. Less hot takes, more knowledge.

Just listened to it, he was great and the criticism was fair. At least he went down the roster and most importantly addressed how the pieces fit. He actually had decent things to say about most of the pieces themselves, particularly Scottie.

Bobby used the term "talent acquisition mode", which is a strong signal to me that the roster will look pretty different a year from now. They're clearly building up to a consolidation trade, and obviously have precedent for this action. This is largely why I'm not concerned about how things currently fit, especially given how Darko runs his offense.

The segment (it was short, less than 10 mins I think?) also reinforced my belief that the Raptors have one of the widest range-of-probabilities for wins/losses this year in the whole league.

I worry that they built up to a move no longer possible - or much harder to make - under the current CBA.

We went into our rebuild at an awful time. The league has changed substantially in the last 2 years. Whatever your priors are, I think they have to be thrown out the window at this point. Unfortunately, it might mean another re-set and a step back is necessary for us.

[TeamDisgruntled]

I wouldn’t say Zach and Rob ripped the Raptors, but they brought them up as one of their “WTF is this team doing?” teams.

Zach is assuming (likely correctly) that we will be starting the highest paid guys, running out IQ/RJ/Ingram/Barnes/Jak. He’s not sure how that’s going to work, nor what we plan to do with all of the guards that aren’t in that lineup.

That is to say, he’s not really low on the Raps, just not really sure what they’re going to look like.

It’s just blatantly obvious that RJ is the odd man out. Not because there is anything wrong with RJ, we just have way too many young guys who deserve minutes there and RJ is blocking them. He’s easily replaced and serves the least purpose for the future. I’m sure if they could get a late first and an expiring he’d be on a flight yesterday. Unfortunately everyone else also knows this, so we’re likely just getting offers of “how about we just take him off your books, but we won’t give you any picks.”