PG: Need some Dark(o) Magic (1-2)

[720]

Scottie Haters mad and quiet.

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[ImaBeatDatAzz]

Who is a realistic upgrade over IQ anyways? I want to say Trae young but his defence… ya no. We’re already getting scored on enough lmao.

Lamelo ball would be a dream but no way he is ever available.

[TheDunc]

The offense doesnt concern me, the defense does though because if Jak regresses then this team is doomed without an anchor on D and we need one with the type of team we have

[Anticon]

The offense doesnt concern me, the defense does though because if Jak regresses then this team is doomed without an anchor on D and we need one with the type of team we have

It's all well and good - this team needs to find it's measure. If that puts them back in the lottery then so be it.

Defense is a complete disaster. Combine a below average offensive team with that and it could get ugly fast. But it's still very early.

[ash_k]

IQ needs to focus on his POA defense and spotting up 3s, nothing else! Half of his shots should have gone to BI. BI can do "10-0 runs" by himself. Shead is better equipped to play our PG starting role right now.

[Los_29]

This is what our record should be. Only I expected a loss against Atlanta and a win against the Bucks.

IQ has done good things. That shot is going to start falling. He’s an elite shooter and he’s not going to shoot 11% for the whole year. He’s not turning the ball over and facilitating well.

[HiJiNX]

It’s still early so I’m not worried yet. Well not about Yak anyway. We know he’s a way better player than what he’s showing. However, where I am concerned is with playing RJ, Ingram, and Quickley together defensively. RJ is constantly a step slow in recovery. Quickley over helps and can’t recover in time. Ingram is just slow laterally. Neither of those three body up with physicality. If you want to point to where we lost tonight it starts and ends there, especially with RJ. He was really really bad defensively last night.

I think we need to play Ochai way more minutes. He’s our best bench player and it’s not close. We need to stop trying to make Dick happen. He is what he is. We are trying to win this year and we can’t afford having Dick getting destroyed out there while he tries to figure it out (which he likely won’t because his issue is a physical disadvantage more than anything).

Separately, I was really impressed with Flagg on the pnr. I didn’t know he had that in his game. He being able to operate there completely changes my perception of him. What a player. He won that game for the Mavs in the third quarter.

Also, Ingram needs to stop looking off his teammates, even when it results in a score. That happened too many times last night where he wouldn’t kick it ahead in transition. Thus far I’m starting to understand why Ingram can be a good scorer for you but not a good first option. He doesn’t make his teammates better. I’d much rather Barnes running the show to be honest, despite his flaws.

Shout to Mamu though. What a good get.

Oh and CMB looked like he hadn’t played basketball in weeks. And his first game is against a huge high octane Mavs team. That’s tough.

That said, my biggest takeaways from this game?

-play Ochai more (and trade someone to make space for him)
-our starting lineup has too many bad defenders in it
-Ingram needs to move the ball quicker and not look to score everything

[canada_dry]

Hope they just bench Poetl tmrw and start Mogbo for atleast some rim protection, Poetl is like a hobbled hunchback with wicked goggles what happened to this guy in the eurobasket

Rim protection is NOT what mogbo provides defensively

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[HiJiNX]

This is what our record should be. Only I expected a loss against Atlanta and a win against the Bucks.

IQ has done good things. That shot is going to start falling. He’s an elite shooter and he’s not going to shoot 11% for the whole year. He’s not turning the ball over and facilitating well.

Yeah I think IQ has been mostly good so far this year. Nice to see him getting downhill in space. He’s making some nice passes. He’s clearly committed to the way we want him to play and is still figuring it out. We know he can shoot. Those will start to fall. My biggest thing with him is he helps too deeply off the ball on D and is always late to recover to shooters as a result. Otherwise, I’ve mostly liked the process.

[HiJiNX]

He is the worst coach in the league, period imo. Has no redeeming qualities of an nba head coach nit sure why we continue this charade

He is not an NBA head coach period, he would have OKC playing.500 ball, too nice, too buddy buddy with players, no feel for lineups, bad adjustments, doesn't have his team ready to compete every night, no more development excuses for this guy, if this gets out of hand early Bobby wll fire him to save his own ass

Agreed and also the development coach argument is a non starter. The raptors are a luxury tax team they need to move now

No coach is going to get RJ, Ingram, IQ, and an out of shape Poeltl to play good defence against a good team. The personnel is the issue.

EDIT: Upon further review, having IQ guard Flagg and sticking Ingram on a washed Klay was a horrible move. Lost us the game.

[TravisScott55]

Jokob is washed
IQ isn't a starter
Ingram doesn't shoot enough

[HiJiNX]

I refuse to believe Jakob somehow got cooked over 1 off-season. Can someone smarter than me break down our schemes this year vs last year? What has changed?

He’s just out of shape. He’s 30 and didn’t have a preseason.

[causal_fan]

That Poeltl extension is looking fantastic

[HiJiNX]

Xenophobia is alive and well with NBA reffing. We may never win another championship

I'm hoping we can have AI look at how one team is reffed and project how many free throws the other team would get if they were called the same way.

I'm pretty sure the Raotors would be one of the teams in the league with the highest disparity indicating they get hosed the most

Couldn't watch the game but was just checking the highlights right now. I laughed out loud when PJ elbow pushed BI during his drive and then BI was called for the foul. All I could say was "Of course!" lol

I would love it if they found more "foul play" with the whistle during the investigation of the betting scandal.

The worst was when Barnes sealed Flagg under the basket with his butt like you’re taught to and the refs called a foul on Scottie haha.

[ATLTimekeeper]

I feel like Barrett's defense has been mostly good. No complaints from him. We're hoping for slightly below average on the year, and I think he's on his way.

In this one, it did feel like Scottie and BI were trading buckets and not really attempting to use the crowd they were drawing. BI because he's trying to establish that he can score from anywhere and Scottie because he saw a couple go in. It's leading to a heavier dose of TOs from these two. Maybe it's a facet of Jak being useless and Quick being off, but the offense doesn't look like how we play. You can't have two guys overdribble for mostly midrange jumpers, especially if they aren't getting the whistle (a whole other story.)

The bench really came in flat. Dick was lethargic. There was just bad energy in that first blended line-up. Gradey was rightfully benched. CMB rightfully benched. Darko needs to give Shead the same treatment.

But, I think this is pretty much the flaw from the last game. We can't contain above average ballhandlers, don't get back in transition and Poeltl is just at a really subpar level. It's possible he's playing hurt, it's also possible this pace the Raptors want to play at isn't fit for his game.

Also agree that Mamu is a beacon of hope

As for the Mavs, they were desperate for a win but we got outrun by fat Klay and fat AD. That is a warning sign for how this season could go off the rails.

[kwajo]

Immanuel Quickley **** sucks. Worst contract in Raptors history.

Yogi Stewart says hi.

[Tripod]

It's been 3 games people.

Yak is clearly hurting...that won't continue
IQ is shooting 11% from 3...that won't continue Ochai shooting 14.3% from 3...won't continue

But in the flipside, Barnes won't continue to shoot 55.6% from 3, lead the team in pts, reb, steals, 2nd in assists. But at least this start slowed down some of the Barnes hatred for a second.

Things will normalize as more games are played. We do have to play better defensively. But as we saw last year, that can come together quickly. But our schedule also might not allow that to happen for a bit, especially with Yak not being 100%. Mamu has been great offensively but we really need a legit BIG backup C for when Yak gets banged up. At some point, trading a guard for one will be necessary.

[Jerry Lucas]

Game 3 Win Shares summary:

Yesterday the players again combined for only 0.3 Win Shares, and got the 2nd L of the season.

RJ: 0.1 WS
Scottie: 0.1 WS
Ingram: 0.1 WS
Poeltl: 0.1 WS
Shead: 0.1 WS
Mamu: 0.1 WS

Battle: -0.1 WS
Ochai: -0.1 WS
CMB: -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).

[Potential]

What do we have to give up to get Austin Reaves?

[bluerap23]

I refuse to believe Jakob somehow got cooked over 1 off-season. Can someone smarter than me break down our schemes this year vs last year? What has changed?

He's clearly injured. Back has been bothering him. If you've ever had a bad back you know what it is like to turn, let alone play an NBA game. He should be focused on getting healthy. Start CMB.