GT: 7/13 | Summer League | Raptors Vs Magic | 6EST | SN 360

[traps#10]

CMB said post game he hasnt played in 6 weeks, definitely explains the rough start.

Why hasn’t he played in 6 weeks?

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

How are you thinking that Dick will be ahead of IQ as an offensive option. Stop this lol.

Rookie scale VS whatver. He's a better asset.

This is not what we're talking about here and you know it lol.

Dick's a scorer, he's going to win that race imo. If they don't move RJ, it's IQ next. It's the contract.

[YogurtProducer]

He’s 21 and they’ve invested a ton in him, he’s gonna play over a scrub like Jamison Battle

You don’t just automatically get playing time because you were a lotto pick. This is a make it or break it year for Gradey. If he can’t stay on the court because of his defense, battle will be taking his minutes. He's far from a scrub lol

You get playing time over Jamison Battle who you are literally better than at every aspect of basketball than him while being three years younger and also a lottery pick in year 3, yeah

And if Jamison Battle doesn’t qualify as a scrub, we must have different definitions of that term. He won’t ever be a NBA rotation player for a winner due to his lack of athleticism and that isn’t gonna improve any time soon.

Battle is a better defender and so far a better 3 point shooter.

[YogurtProducer]

With BI on the team, I think he could be the second option. I think people are expecting too much from BI this year.

2nd option? And you think people are expecting too much from BI who is an established player in his prime?

Lets just hope Gradey can lead the bench unit in scoring lol

Well, I doubt RJ makes it the distance. Barnes, maybe 20+. BI if healthy is around 24ppg, but he's been out a year. That leaves Dick.

Dick needs to make the rotation consistently before we get our calling him to be a major scoring option

[YogurtProducer]

This team is in win now mode? lol

Their ceiling this year is like 43 wins

Yes is that news to you? The Brandon Ingram trade and resigning of Jak made that pretty clear.

Let alone the fact that the front office has been saying they are trying to compete. It’s pretty clear they are done rebuilding.

Also pls name me 3 players who have averaged 40% from 3 that are scrubs lol

They are a mid 40s win team at best, that’s not a “win now” team

And developing young talent better remain a primary goal for this organization this year. If it isn’t, the treadmill is exactly where they will stay

Jalen Harris also averaged 47% from 3 in 13 MPG for the Raptors 4 years ago, the guy is playing for the Winnipeg Sea Bears right now. It’s not that unusual

Harris shot 30 3’s his entire season.

Battle shot 250

[Los_29]

Battle is worse than Dick at that too and that’s saying something, yeah

Not even close to being a NBA level athlete

I doubt you watch basketball anymore if you truly think this lol.

I watched Battle when he was Gradey’s age in college and he hasn’t gotten any better at defense since then lol

He’s not a player worth caring about in any respect

Let’s be real here, you didn’t watch any of these guys in college. You’re not fooling anyone. lol.

[YogurtProducer]

I doubt you watch basketball anymore if you truly think this lol.

I watched Battle when he was Gradey’s age in college and he hasn’t gotten any better at defense since then lol

He’s not a player worth caring about in any respect

Let’s be real here, you didn’t watch any of these guys in college. You’re not fooling anyone. lol.

Considering he just brought up Jalen Harris as an example of a guy who shot 40% from 3 and is out of the league makes that even more clear

I don’t know why he cares what Battle did 3 years before he was even on the Raptors.

[rapsincr]

CMB said post game he hasnt played in 6 weeks, definitely explains the rough start.

Why hasn’t he played in 6 weeks?

hamstring injury i believe

[Clutch0z24]

CMB said post game he hasnt played in 6 weeks, definitely explains the rough start.

This is the most important news today.

We are seeing rusty, lower cardio, CMB.

Good to know.

Yeah but even at his best he still needs to learn how to shoot....The jumpshot looking rough has nothing to do with conditioning....But yeah he looked a little less aggressive in SL than he did in game tape which should improve as he gets going.

[Thaddy]

Gradey was eligible for the summer league he should have been a part of it. Players like Walter, Dick, Martin and other undersized wings who can't handle the ball aren't going to special in the NBA.

What would he gain by participating? He's already been there twice and he hasn't been super impressive as we've already seen summer league isn't particularly good for someone with his game. If he kills it, he's supposed to. But if he is mediocre, it kills his confidence. I don't know what reason there would possibly be for him to play another summer league when most 3rd year players worth a damn typically don't play it. For a good reason. If he needs reps, he needs to get it somewhere else.

The primary thing would be using the pick and roll to start an action and get off a 3pt shot. If he isn't able to get up good volume it won't help our spacing issues. We have a 2 year sample size of over 100 games. He only gets off 5 a game as a bench player, that should be closer to 8 or even 9. His percentage isn't great either at 35.6%. I'm not a big believer in Gradey he's going to be 22 when the season starts. His defense is still bad too and he can't bring his specialty skill when he plays. It's definitely a problem.

Gradually bringing that up in the Summer League would have been great for him.

[Boogie!]

And I also don’t think Gradey is owed minutes or doesn’t have to fight for minutes and prove he can stay on the floor defensively. He 100% has to do that. And if he doesn’t he won’t play much. I also think now that we are trying to win and have added some good defenders, they can set up some schemes to try and hide Gradey as best as they can. They have been throwing Gradey to the fire on defence bc we were tanking and not trying to win just to see what he could do in a way I don’t think they will do next season. Darko sometimes used to just put Gradey on the other team’s best offensive initiator just to see what would happen lol. Gradey will no longer be starting which should also help him bc he’ll be guarding lesser players. But everything is a wait and see game. If he doesn’t earn the minutes he won’t play. Simple. But I would bet it would be Ochai and Ja’Kobe that plays over him if that happens, not Battle.

Ochai is a NBA level rotation 3+D player and Ja’Kobe has serious potential as a scorer.

Battle is none of those things unfortunately and there’s really no room for growth at all

Serious potential as a scorer based on what? His college numbers that somehow mean so much or his NBA numbers?

[XTC]

Y’all have really lost y’all’s minds if you think Battle is better than Gradey lol. I don’t think people on here really watch the games, they just look up boxscores and make judgements off that solely with zero context lol. Gradey takes much tougher shots than Battle and whether y’all think Gradey can shoot or not the league believes he can shoot and guards him as such. Gradey has so much gravity and is a movement shooter who has audacity. He takes shots Battle couldn’t even and wouldn’t even dream of. Battle is strictly a set 3 point shooter.

Gradey was actually a very good set shooter last season which so many people ignore because his overall 3 point percentage was just average. And the reason being was the type of shots he took. Samson Folk says it all the time, Gradey shot something like 43%-46% on wide open set 3 point shots. He’s great at that, but Raptors have higher expectations for him and don’t allow him to just take those easy shots.

Gradey flashed so much to start last season. Yes it did not last but he showed us what he could be. Battle could never. When Gradey figures it out he’s going to be so much more than just a catch and shoot 3 point shooter. He has some exciting potential on offense. And it’s funny bc everyone here hates the defense first players we pick bc they can’t shoot, but the one time we draft offence with no defence and the potential for Gradey to be a special offensive player is clearly still there, everyone gives up on him so early bc he isn’t what they want when they want it. Growth isn’t linear and doesn’t happen at the pace you want it to lol. That’s not how it works. Have some patience.

I think Gradey is the most natural scorer on this team, however he has some huge holes to fix in his game. Year 3 is up were going to need to start seeing some consistency.

Gradey actually shot 38% on C&S three's during the season on 4.6 attempts (Battle shot 40% 3.8 attempts), and a horrible 25% on pull up three's on 1.4 attempts (Battle shot 41% on 0.6 attempts). League average for C&S three's is 37%, league average for pull up three pointers is 33%

Battle is a legitimate good shooter by NBA standards, no team is leaving him open. If Gradey had Battle's IQ and consistency, he would be allstar caliber. Gradey's main problems are consistency, and shot selection. Once he figures those two things out (and getting more strength), hes going to be a problem.

[LoveMyRaps]

Thoughts on Mogbo?

[Randle McMurphy]

I doubt you watch basketball anymore if you truly think this lol.

I watched Battle when he was Gradey’s age in college and he hasn’t gotten any better at defense since then lol

He’s not a player worth caring about in any respect

Let’s be real here, you didn’t watch any of these guys in college. You’re not fooling anyone. lol.

I watch over 100 college basketball games every season at a minimum. Oh yeah, I watched them.

Just because you don't doesn't mean others don't too.

[Los_29]

I don't believe in Shead. He isn't great on defense and his offense sucks too. There's a very clear pathway for Hepburn and Martin to become the back up PG next year. The poor FT shooting from Shead is concerning, we need consistency from there if he isn't going to knock down threes.

Chomche is ready for NBA minutes. It'll be the best way to develop him. I would hope we play him in 40-50 games this year to get him development time. The FT shooting from him was great to see he's nailing it.

Another flip flopping special. What has changed in the past month to make you change your opinion on Shead? I love the contradictions and the hot takes.

[Randle McMurphy]

And I also don’t think Gradey is owed minutes or doesn’t have to fight for minutes and prove he can stay on the floor defensively. He 100% has to do that. And if he doesn’t he won’t play much. I also think now that we are trying to win and have added some good defenders, they can set up some schemes to try and hide Gradey as best as they can. They have been throwing Gradey to the fire on defence bc we were tanking and not trying to win just to see what he could do in a way I don’t think they will do next season. Darko sometimes used to just put Gradey on the other team’s best offensive initiator just to see what would happen lol. Gradey will no longer be starting which should also help him bc he’ll be guarding lesser players. But everything is a wait and see game. If he doesn’t earn the minutes he won’t play. Simple. But I would bet it would be Ochai and Ja’Kobe that plays over him if that happens, not Battle.

Ochai is a NBA level rotation 3+D player and Ja’Kobe has serious potential as a scorer.

Battle is none of those things unfortunately and there’s really no room for growth at all

Serious potential as a scorer based on what? His college numbers that somehow mean so much or his NBA numbers?

You care far too much about the numbers of guys who are only 19 and 20 years old in the NBA. I'd suggest looking deeper than that.

[Randle McMurphy]

You don’t just automatically get playing time because you were a lotto pick. This is a make it or break it year for Gradey. If he can’t stay on the court because of his defense, battle will be taking his minutes. He's far from a scrub lol

You get playing time over Jamison Battle who you are literally better than at every aspect of basketball than him while being three years younger and also a lottery pick in year 3, yeah

And if Jamison Battle doesn’t qualify as a scrub, we must have different definitions of that term. He won’t ever be a NBA rotation player for a winner due to his lack of athleticism and that isn’t gonna improve any time soon.

Battle is a better defender and so far a better 3 point shooter.

No and no. If Gradey was asked to solely hit wide open standing spot shots (and do literally nothing else on the court like Battle), he'd have a better percentage overall than him too.

[Basketball_Jones]

The thing with Gradey is his form I think it’s a bit slow or too busy to be consistent and doesn’t lend itself well to pull ups off the dribble. Numbers kind of show that, but I hope I’m wrong and it’s just strength/conditioning and experience. Battle is a nice break glass for emergency option and I’m sure we’ll go there a few times this season. Push come to shove I’d like to keep Lawson over Battle if we have to lose anyone.

[Thaddy]

I don't believe in Shead. He isn't great on defense and his offense sucks too. There's a very clear pathway for Hepburn and Martin to become the back up PG next year. The poor FT shooting from Shead is concerning, we need consistency from there if he isn't going to knock down threes.

Chomche is ready for NBA minutes. It'll be the best way to develop him. I would hope we play him in 40-50 games this year to get him development time. The FT shooting from him was great to see he's nailing it.

Another flip flopping special. What has changed in the past month to make you change your opinion on Shead? I love the contradictions and the hot takes.

You can look at the numbers. Eye test wise he looks great. He makes a great play every now and then. But the numbers tell another story.

[Los_29]

I don't believe in Shead. He isn't great on defense and his offense sucks too. There's a very clear pathway for Hepburn and Martin to become the back up PG next year. The poor FT shooting from Shead is concerning, we need consistency from there if he isn't going to knock down threes.

Chomche is ready for NBA minutes. It'll be the best way to develop him. I would hope we play him in 40-50 games this year to get him development time. The FT shooting from him was great to see he's nailing it.

Another flip flopping special. What has changed in the past month to make you change your opinion on Shead? I love the contradictions and the hot takes.

You can look at the numbers. Eye test wise he looks great. He makes a great play every now and then. But the numbers tell another story.

Looks like you’re not looking at the numbers either. 77% from the line is not concerning.