PG: ohh no, we suck again!

[Brinbe]

Raps clearly didn't play at their best, especially in the 2nd half, but they were still competitive. Giannis in this form is one of the most dominant machines in the history of the game and we didn't have anyone that could come close to checking him. And they got enough secondary scoring from Anthony, Trent, Green, Portis that they'd make us pay for collapsing in on the freak. It is what it is, no need to overthink it.

Anyway, I hope CMB isn't out too much longer. I think they're def missing him quite a bit off-the-bench.

[theonlyeastcoastrapsfan]

A big hole in our strategy is that they lean hard into signs of strength from SL and pre season when the players doing it were not the players that we plan to play heavy minutes.

We really have a strategy to force IQ to work hard to alter his game to be more like Jamal Shead - shouldn’t the dynamic be the opposite? Credit to IQ for his effort, and not just laying back and cashing cheques, he’s a high character player. But he’s not being put in his best situation. He’s being put into the situation we left ourselves with and need to make work or we have to make some really hard decisions.

But we don’t have a lot of time to take a year to evaluate If we need a more competent coach. Before we have to make some tough decisions.

[Jerry Lucas]

Game 2 Win Shares summary:

Yesterday the players combined for only 0.3 Win Shares, and got the 1st L of the season.

RJ: 0.1 WS
IQ: 0.1 WS
Mamu: 0.1 WS
Battle: 0.1 WS

Scottie: -0.1 WS

Everyone else that played last night had between -0.05 to 0.05 Win Shares (either rounds up to 0 instead of down to -0.1, or rounds down to 0 instead of up to 0.1).

[HangTime]

How did Walter not get minutes?

[MEDIC]

I just found that they were so focused on playing fast & getting easy points, it caused them to lose focus on the defensive end.

I wasn't a fan of Scotties defese. Too many mistakes.

I know they want to.pressure the ball, but when you are playing superior athletes like Giannis, you have to give him a bit of space & stay in front. Scottie got blown by too easily & you can't really help on Giannis once he is full speed. He basically had multiple 75 foot straight drives to the rim. Too easy.

[MEDIC]

Only caught the end but saw a lot of panicked plays and turnovers as a result down at the end.

We desperately need a scoring guard/wing off the bench to score and/or put up 3s. Bench offense is pretty bad.

At game 15 we’re gonna have a conversation about Shead’s prognosis as a Raptor

I guess Gradey is supposed to become that bench scorer. Maybe he will.......who knows. Or maybe Jakobe does, but they have to prioritize development minutes for him. I think they missed his defense last night.

I have been a huge Shead fan, but I am disappointed that he hasn't really improved all that much. He looks like the same.player.

[tecumseh18]

cmb and his 245 of defense coulda made that difference once scottie sat...giannis really went off on our small lineup

He did most of his beating on Scottie lol. Him and Poeltl just couldn’t do anything to slow him down.

Poeltl has been horrendous. Looks very weak out there and is fouling way too much. Usually he's like a stonewall but he's been a pylon these first two games.

Totally agree. I think he has some back issue from pre-season or training camp. I'm hoping it's that, and that it will heal. Because otherwise, Raptors are back to not having a decent C. And that sucks.

[aminiaturebuddha]

Overall lots of positives here.

Key negatives is Poeltl looks off and Giannis doubled up Barnes/Poeltl in rebounding

People blaming IQ is wild. This board continues to struggle with evaluating guard play. Same complaints as every PG we’ve ever had. “Dominated the ball”, “turnstile”, yadayadayada.

Just go watch other teams. That’s how every PG plays lol

Yeah, IQ's offence and floor game was fine. I think he's shown real improvement during his time in Toronto at creating for others, even though he often plays off ball with Scottie and BI on the court.

However, I thought his screen navigation was pretty terrible most of the night. It led to him trailing too far behind guards driving into the paint, and the Bucks swinging the ball and finding an open man far too often.

If ball pressure if really going to be a big part of the defensive scheme, especially at the point of attack, IQ absolutely has to get better at that or else the system is just going to fall apart.

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

IQ's fine, Scottie's fine...neither are starting PG's who should be running an offense.

[Tor_Raps]

I get we're still in finger pointing mode but how about RJ Barrett? He's arguably been their best player in both games.

Hes been the teams best player ever since we traded for him.

[Tor_Raps]

I just found that they were so focused on playing fast & getting easy points, it caused them to lose focus on the defensive end.

I wasn't a fan of Scotties defese. Too many mistakes.

I know they want to.pressure the ball, but when you are playing superior athletes like Giannis, you have to give him a bit of space & stay in front. Scottie got blown by too easily & you can't really help on Giannis once he is full speed. He basically had multiple 75 foot straight drives to the rim. Too easy.

They literally played defense like chickens with their heads cut off. Just reckless double teaming... no idea which they should leave open on the perimeter. Just horrible basketball against a team with 1 guy and mostly scrubs.

[Tor_Raps]

Only caught the end but saw a lot of panicked plays and turnovers as a result down at the end.

We desperately need a scoring guard/wing off the bench to score and/or put up 3s. Bench offense is pretty bad.

At game 15 we’re gonna have a conversation about Shead’s prognosis as a Raptor

I guess Gradey is supposed to become that bench scorer. Maybe he will.......who knows. Or maybe Jakobe does, but they have to prioritize development minutes for him. I think they missed his defense last night.

I have been a huge Shead fan, but I am disappointed that he hasn't really improved all that much. He looks like the same.player.

Dick's scoring isnt good enough to offset his horrendous defense. At least thats been his problem 95% of the time and was the case yesterday. Although there were plenty in the same boat as him yesterday.

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

The defense in general was bad. Like, it's hard to pick spots when you lay a 122pt egg.

[canada_dry]

Sheads defensive chops are a lot more in theory rather than in practice.

Sent from my SM-G960W using RealGM mobile app

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

Sheads defensive chops are a lot more in theory rather than in practice.

Sent from my SM-G960W using RealGM mobile app

He's great for his height. Average NBA player is like 6'6", so.

[Rainman66]

Really wish we kept Sarr with the last roster spot, a big over 6'9 off the bench is def a glaring need for this team.

[dozo]

Disappointing Home Opener.

The raps started the game flat and lacked focus during the 4thQ.

Getting outrebounded and bench pts are glaring stats, but the missed free throws, defensive gambles, and turnovers in the fourth quarter decided the game.

65% from the free-throw line is simply unacceptable for an NBA team.

Defending home court is absolutely essential for
playoff teams.

[Duffman100]

Everyone had their share of brain farts tonight, but Poeltl looked especially bad.

Poeltl looks washed to start the season

Same as last year. Then he picked it up.

[nikster]

Really bad game from Scottie. Had a fes good moments but took too many I'll advised jumpers, careless turnovers and nkt going hard enoguh im the paint. Had a terrible play where he gave up a shot under the basket in the 4th and threw it away.

Ingram is such a good scorer, had a great stretch in the end of the 3rd where he ISOd several possessions in a row. Had a dew sloppy plays but think he still needs to get in the groove of the offense and from being off so long

On that note, Ingram has lead the team in TO's in both reg season games. He has more TO's than assists at this point. There's lots of room for improvement all around.

Yeah its those type of things I think will get better with time, but can still see the talent and the skills that make him such a good fit.

[BCbudraptorfan]

TRADE IQ ASAP

Why?

over paid undersized shooting guard