GT #5 - Raptors (1-3) vs Rockets (1-2) - October 29th, 2025 - 6:30PM EST - TSN

[mademan]

I think we'll look very good once Poeltl is healthy but the back up C position is shaky I would look at a Kessler for Dick trade and consider the tax next year, then try to move IQ to avoid the repeater. We could probably bring back RJ, Agbaji, and still sign Kessler back if IQ is gone.

There will be a starting line up change soon. CMB is already good, its very obvious he should be starting.

Poeltl / Mamu
CMB / Mogbo
Barnes / Walter
Ingram / IQ
RJ / IQ

We need a short rotation like the above. Try to trade Agbaji and a pick for Kessler. We need a good young C as a back up.

Why in the world would Kessler want to be a backup here? Kessler might be better than Poeltl.

He could become the eventual starter, maybe even right away. The path forward would be to probably dump IQ with Poeltl for some kind of expiring contracts to get under the tax and stay competitive. If we're lucky we come away with some kind of 2nd round pick package and try hitting on picks there for future depth.

Kessler / Mamu / 2026 1st
CMB / Mogbo
Barnes / Battle
Ingram / Walter
RJ / Shead / 2026 2nd

Your bigger problem is finding a team to give value for Dick. Utah laughs us the phone with that offer

[Thaddy]

Why in the world would Kessler want to be a backup here? Kessler might be better than Poeltl.

He could become the eventual starter, maybe even right away. The path forward would be to probably dump IQ with Poeltl for some kind of expiring contracts to get under the tax and stay competitive. If we're lucky we come away with some kind of 2nd round pick package and try hitting on picks there for future depth.

Kessler / Mamu / 2026 1st
CMB / Mogbo
Barnes / Battle
Ingram / Walter
RJ / Shead / 2026 2nd

Your bigger problem is finding a team to give value for Dick. Utah laughs us the phone with that offer

Young shooters on cost controlled contracts are good. You can never have enough young shooters and they are worth trying to develop. We're just loaded at the wing position, and we can't even afford Kessler. But I think it's a solid move.

We can probably package IQ and Poeltl together along with picks for a disgruntled star who's slightly overpaid. Then we can go into the tax for a season and consider letting RJ and Agbaji go, but hopefully look for a trade that brings back some sort of assets.

Kessler
CMB
Barnes
Ingram
Shead

I think 2 years from now the above would be a competitive line up that could take us decently far in the playoffs. Barnes and Ingram are great, pretty much all stars. CMB and Kessler have all defense potential. I don't love Shead but he comes from a good college program with a strong culture that we need here if we want to win a championship as a small market.

[Reeko]

Scottie leading the team with 5 rebounds is crazy. Bobby needs to figure this center and point guard situation out quick (no pun intended) fast and in a hurry.

[Thaddy]

Scottie leading the team with 5 rebounds is crazy. Bobby needs to figure this center and point guard situation out quick (no pun intended) fast and in a hurry.

The easiest fix is to move one of RJ or IQ to the bench. It should probably be RJ. We could get Poeltl and CMB in there and then use Barnes at the POA. If they start screwing up bad we can take off IQ for Shead.

Poeltl
CMB
Barnes
Ingram
Shead

That would make the defense good enough to hold the opposing team under 25 in a quarter.

[PushDaRock]

I'm looking at these box scores around the league and it's ridiculous how many FT's some of these teams are shooting. Scoring is way up this season, so we aren't the only ones with defensive struggles right now.

[mademan]

He could become the eventual starter, maybe even right away. The path forward would be to probably dump IQ with Poeltl for some kind of expiring contracts to get under the tax and stay competitive. If we're lucky we come away with some kind of 2nd round pick package and try hitting on picks there for future depth.

Kessler / Mamu / 2026 1st
CMB / Mogbo
Barnes / Battle
Ingram / Walter
RJ / Shead / 2026 2nd

Your bigger problem is finding a team to give value for Dick. Utah laughs us the phone with that offer

Young shooters on cost controlled contracts are good. You can never have enough young shooters and they are worth trying to develop. We're just loaded at the wing position, and we can't even afford Kessler. But I think it's a solid move.

We can probably package IQ and Poeltl together along with picks for a disgruntled star who's slightly overpaid. Then we can go into the tax for a season and consider letting RJ and Agbaji go, but hopefully look for a trade that brings back some sort of assets.

Kessler
CMB
Barnes
Ingram
Shead

I think 2 years from now the above would be a competitive line up that could take us decently far in the playoffs. Barnes and Ingram are great, pretty much all stars. CMB and Kessler have all defense potential. I don't love Shead but he comes from a good college program with a strong culture that we need here if we want to win a championship as a small market.

Gradey is in year 3 and still only a shooter in theory. He has little value on the market

[Mascot]

On the upside only 1 more loss to go before playing Memphis.

But this season will be sub .500 to all star then rack up wins to make the play in against all the tanking teams and finish with like 42 wins.

[ItsDanger]

When they comnitted to Ingram, that locked the team into a very poor defensive starting lineup. A hobbled Poeltl doesn't help. But anyone should've been able to predict the weakness here. It's a poorly constructed roster.

[Rainman66]

1-4 is definitely not a good start to the season but lots of promising signs here, we need to play Jkw more as a Poa defender, let RJ/Scottie handle more of the PG duties and stagger Mamu/Cmb at C. Wonder if Minny would bite on any IQ for Naz Reid type of deal?

[Kingsway_fan]

Bench subs have been brutal all season. We are getting nothing other than from Mamu.

A healthy Yak would make a big difference, imo.

Had Barnes showed up in game two against Bucks, we could easily be 2-2, even with injured Yak.

[Boogie!]

Your bigger problem is finding a team to give value for Dick. Utah laughs us the phone with that offer

Young shooters on cost controlled contracts are good. You can never have enough young shooters and they are worth trying to develop. We're just loaded at the wing position, and we can't even afford Kessler. But I think it's a solid move.

We can probably package IQ and Poeltl together along with picks for a disgruntled star who's slightly overpaid. Then we can go into the tax for a season and consider letting RJ and Agbaji go, but hopefully look for a trade that brings back some sort of assets.

Kessler
CMB
Barnes
Ingram
Shead

I think 2 years from now the above would be a competitive line up that could take us decently far in the playoffs. Barnes and Ingram are great, pretty much all stars. CMB and Kessler have all defense potential. I don't love Shead but he comes from a good college program with a strong culture that we need here if we want to win a championship as a small market.

Gradey is in year 3 and still only a shooter in theory. He has little value on the market

It’s so funny how this is the discussion now. I said to trade this man last year and people made it seem like I said the stupidest thing in the world. Like I said if you want to know which raptors players are worth it just agree with my takes. I’m not batting 1000, that’s impossible, but I guarantee you I’m not talking out of my ass as much as people want you to believe.

[Shakril]

Intersting take that in a game in which we grabbed 29 total rebounds wouldn’t have been changed by adding a very good rebounder to the team.

This was a game that was definitely win able with a healthy big

We lost by 18 pts. How much would his impact be? 10 points, 12?. If he were able to impact the game by 19 points, then he should be the guy we build around. Because that is huge. Normally upper tier All-Stars have that kind of impact.

I don't know, but I would say losing the rebound battle 53-22 impacted things quite a bit. That probably doesn't happen with a healthy Jak.

Yes, how many more would he have had? 7? 8?. Lets say 10 more. It still ist 43 to 32 -> that is not enoug to overcome 18 points difference. We may lose by 6 or 7 instead.

[dballislife]

honestly there are some positives lol.....barnes and ingram are scoring 22ppg on 54% fg and rj 19ppg on 58% fg

[Shakril]

I think we'll look very good once Poeltl is healthy but the back up C position is shaky I would look at a Kessler for Dick trade and consider the tax next year, then try to move IQ to avoid the repeater. We could probably bring back RJ, Agbaji, and still sign Kessler back if IQ is gone.

There will be a starting line up change soon. CMB is already good, its very obvious he should be starting.

Poeltl / Mamu
CMB / Mogbo
Barnes / Walter
Ingram / IQ
RJ / IQ

We need a short rotation like the above. Try to trade Agbaji and a pick for Kessler. We need a good young C as a back up.

Why in the world would Kessler want to be a backup here? Kessler might be better than Poeltl.

He is younger, not better. Maybe in the future, who knows.

[ImaBeatDatAzz]

Na Kessler is shooting 3s now. He is definitely already better than Poeltl. Sorry to say

[MoneyBall]

They look so out of sync out there. I'm going to bite my tongue and not jump to harsh conclusions, but we've been a disaster this far.

[MEDIC]

Last year, they draft an undersized 6'6" PF with their 1st second rounder instead of Flip. This season they draft Martin, who is an undersized 2 guard. The team is stacked with 2 guards & Martin isn't even all that good......probably never will be.

Their three 2 way contracts......guards and a SF. It makes absolutely no sense. On a team that completely lacks bigs, how do you not at least have a big on a 2 way?

May as well just cut Martin & sign a big to a 2 way. Martin may become a decent bench player one day, but it will be a long road for him to get there. There is nothing about him that impresses me right now..i liked him as a college player, but.....

[ATLTimekeeper]

Last year, they draft an undersized 6'6" PF with their 1st second rounder instead of Flip. This season they draft Martin, who is an undersized 2 guard. The team is stacked with 2 guards & Martin isn't even all that good......probably never will be.

Their three 2 way contracts......guards and a SF. It makes absolutely no sense. On a team that completely lacks bigs, how do you not at least have a big on a 2 way?

May as well just cut Martin & sign a big to a 2 way. Martin may become a decent bench player one day, but it will be a long road for him to get there. There is nothing about him that impresses me right now..i liked him as a college player, but.....

They did. Chomche had a career threatening condition and was waived just before the end of training camp. I doubt keeping Sarr over Lawson was going to help us with Wemby or Sengun. Just have to weather the storm and hope Jak is not done for months.

[ash_k]

That guy had an opportunity to get an experienced former head coach to help him, he decided to keep this coaching staff of "rookies". The Same Darko that had OG, Pascal, Barnes and Yak and could not get that team to defend a leak either.

...and Scottie is such a moody scorer, where was this in San Antonio?!

[MEDIC]

Last year, they draft an undersized 6'6" PF with their 1st second rounder instead of Flip. This season they draft Martin, who is an undersized 2 guard. The team is stacked with 2 guards & Martin isn't even all that good......probably never will be.

Their three 2 way contracts......guards and a SF. It makes absolutely no sense. On a team that completely lacks bigs, how do you not at least have a big on a 2 way?

May as well just cut Martin & sign a big to a 2 way. Martin may become a decent bench player one day, but it will be a long road for him to get there. There is nothing about him that impresses me right now..i liked him as a college player, but.....

They did. Chomche had a career threatening condition and was waived just before the end of training camp. I doubt keeping Sarr over Lawson was going to help us with Wemby or Sengun. Just have to weather the storm and hope Jak is not done for months.

Having Chomche wasn't an answer to anything. Even is he was healthy. The guy was still years away. You need some experienced bigs on the roster. Guys that are ORob's level or better.