PG: Notorious BI3 come thru (8-1 in last 9)

[Duffman100]

Need to clean up some of these turnovers and hit our FTs. These are silent killers and we're getting away with it against bad teams.

We were also out rebounded. Our record wont distract me from how bad we are without Yak. We have far too many wings and not a single legit backup center with size. If Yak goes down for a stretch of games we might be screwed!

yeah at this point, I wouldn't be against seeing what if anything we could get for Walter.

[PushDaRock]

RJ is weird in that he's at his best when he's the overlooked wide open 3rd option but occasionally he seems to chafe at that role and try to be a hero when it's clear to everyone Ingram and Barnes are the two guys above him on the pecking order.

He had 1 turnover and missed a bunch of makeable shots at the rim, I think it's a bit of an exaggeration to say he was really forcing it. If he goes 10-16 instead of 7-16 making the bunnies he missed, suddenly he's not "forcing" it anymore and has a good game instead.

No...it's the head down 1 vs 3/4 drives that he constantly did that people are talking about. That's bad RJ. Regardless if it goes in or not.

The best RJ is the head up willing to pass RJ. Catching the ball while already having a step on his man or curling around a screen is what we want. Last night he had WAY to many of the "I am going to try and score here and don't care what the defense is doing" drives.

And that's when people point out he has reverted back to the NYK RJ. And that RJ is frustrating to watch, regardless of results.

He has always bounced back to good RJ after having these spells. Hopefully good RJ shows up vs 76ers.

How many of these were actually really bad drives though? Maybe 1 or 2 of them? Most of the attempts were in transition where he's really good.

[anotherhomer]

Need to clean up some of these turnovers and hit our FTs. These are silent killers and we're getting away with it against bad teams.

We were also out rebounded. Our record wont distract me from how bad we are without Yak. We have far too many wings and not a single legit backup center with size. If Yak goes down for a stretch of games we might be screwed!

yeah at this point, I wouldn't be against seeing what if anything we could get for Walter.

i'm not even sure what we can get

[ATLTimekeeper]

He had 1 turnover and missed a bunch of makeable shots at the rim, I think it's a bit of an exaggeration to say he was really forcing it. If he goes 10-16 instead of 7-16 making the bunnies he missed, suddenly he's not "forcing" it anymore and has a good game instead.

No...it's the head down 1 vs 3/4 drives that he constantly did that people are talking about. That's bad RJ. Regardless if it goes in or not.

The best RJ is the head up willing to pass RJ. Catching the ball while already having a step on his man or curling around a screen is what we want. Last night he had WAY to many of the "I am going to try and score here and don't care what the defense is doing" drives.

And that's when people point out he has reverted back to the NYK RJ. And that RJ is frustrating to watch, regardless of results.

He has always bounced back to good RJ after having these spells. Hopefully good RJ shows up vs 76ers.

How many of these were actually really bad drives though? Maybe 1 or 2 of them? Most of the attempts were in transition where he's really good.

Last night RJ was 4/6 on drives with an assist

Brandon Ingram was 2/8 with no assists

Scottie was 1/5 with one assist, one TO

A fair whistle and this game is a 20+ point blowout.

[PushDaRock]

It's really weird.. one Facebook poster who comes across as abit of a RJ fanboy posts about RJ and his game winning basket.

Not sure how anyone comes away from this game wanting to post about RJ.

I mean, he did hit the game-winning shot. He had a bit of a rough game, but he also didn’t necessarily try to do too much aside from a few possessions in transition. He’d finish that game with 20+ points more often than not, but he (like the rest of the team) just wasn’t getting any calls while he also missed a couple of point-blank layups.

Aside from Ingram — who had his own struggles with 5 TOV — and IQ, no one really had a good game. It was pretty ugly most of the night outside of a few bursts, so it’s promising that we still found a way to beat the Hornets — and the refs — as well as overcoming our own mistakes.

Yeah, obviously he had a below average game. It's just probably not as terrible as people are saying. He smoked some easy lay-ups and then had some opportunities in transition that he didn't convert on or get the call. Maybe a couple were bad shots but most were very makeable.

[PushDaRock]

No...it's the head down 1 vs 3/4 drives that he constantly did that people are talking about. That's bad RJ. Regardless if it goes in or not.

The best RJ is the head up willing to pass RJ. Catching the ball while already having a step on his man or curling around a screen is what we want. Last night he had WAY to many of the "I am going to try and score here and don't care what the defense is doing" drives.

And that's when people point out he has reverted back to the NYK RJ. And that RJ is frustrating to watch, regardless of results.

He has always bounced back to good RJ after having these spells. Hopefully good RJ shows up vs 76ers.

How many of these were actually really bad drives though? Maybe 1 or 2 of them? Most of the attempts were in transition where he's really good.

Last night RJ was 4/6 on drives with an assist

Brandon Ingram was 2/8 with no assists

Scottie was 1/5 with one assist, one TO

A fair whistle and this game is a 20+ point blowout.

Yeah it was crazy the amount of contact allowed on one end but not the other

[rapsincr]

Wow we passed the Knicks.

Brunson didn't play so Miami beat them.

I believe Brunson and OG might be out for 1-2 weeks, maybe longer.

if i know OG, he might be out 2 months lol

[_MidNight_]

Need to clean up some of these turnovers and hit our FTs. These are silent killers and we're getting away with it against bad teams.

We were also out rebounded. Our record wont distract me from how bad we are without Yak. We have far too many wings and not a single legit backup center with size. If Yak goes down for a stretch of games we might be screwed!

yeah at this point, I wouldn't be against seeing what if anything we could get for Walter.

I'm really surprised how much of a non-factor he's been in the minutes given to him, yet Battle sees the floor less and always seems to be doing so much good when he's out there.

I agree, I think we should look to move him to fill the glaring hole at the backup 5, I'm not sure what he would fetch however.

[MiamiSPX]

Tied with the Hawks for 3rd. Knicks lost so we have passed the Knicks who have lost Brunson and OG to injury for the next little while.

The Bucks, who are sliding down the standings, just lost Giannis for what I imagine will be at least a week or two, A Giannis-less Bucks might be the worst team in the league. Still way, way, way early...but a lot of things are aligning for us to be a playoff team.

Pump the breaks. We are only 2 games ahead of 11th. Meaning, two losses and the world looks different. Just look at chicago, started 5-0 and are now 7-6. Right now we have some easy games + philly on which we should capitalize. But right now, the east is all jumbled together, except for the pistons and 12th place downwards.

No need to pump the brakes. We are absolutely going to the playoffs if we stay lucky with health. But, every time I have made that prediction, I have always qualified it with the main reason being the state of the East. It's more an indictment of the conference than it is a proclamation of our team being amazing or anything like that. I mean, the season is already over for 3 teams in our conference and they are playing for next year (Wiz, Nets, Pacers). Charlotte's season will come to an end once LaMelo is out for an extended period again, which will likely happen soon. Bucks are toast if Giannis starts struggling with that groin all season. Etc etc.

[raptorforlife88]

Raptors are 9th in ORTG and 11th in DRTG. Very solid on both ends right now. Things can change, but I remember one of the advanced stats sites indicated that team stats start stabilizing (and are more signal than noise) at around 13 games for ORTG and 17 games for DRTG. We're 14 games in. I think by game 20 if we're still maintaining these numbers, we can feel fairly comfortable that this team, when healthy, is pretty good.

[theonlyeastcoastrapsfan]

Closer and more exiting than it needed to be, but fun game and team effort. While there's natural variance and ebb and flow, obvioulsly not all guys will be at their best every night and our depth helps us navigate and find the people to step up when needed. However to have success once we reach the playoffs, or to put ourselves in a better position against other teams with the same goal, i think our slow starts need to be addressed and I do agree with those who think simply playing the money - is leading to too many offensive mouths to feed and a more balanced deployment of talent and assets, and maximizing the time that Shead gets, as he's got a game that lifts the game of others moreso than other guys as a more natural lead point, I think are moves that we should be looking at. And honestly I'd be looking to have RJ be a gunner of a 6th man, trying to find more minutes for Battle and having Jakobe spend some more time in the G league.

Fun game though, crazy block party at the end, Crazy BI dunk. Impressive focus leadership from Scottie late, after seemingly being knocked of focus by the refs (who were garbage). Good Gradey game. Glad RJ made that layup late, otherwise it was a real tough night for him. And honestly we have too much talent sitting down to riding with RJ on nights like this. He's a confounding player in the counting stats make him look like a guy in our big 3, but I don't feel he has that much winning impact - like as well as he can score, i expect him to give it back on the defensive end. Its like he's a 90's all star - just hard wired to score 20 by any means necessary, but I think the games learned more about the nuances that lead to winning beyond that, and that's what I don't feel we're getting. With the SL he's taking shots away from BI, IQ and Scotty, where with the bench his talents would be more needed.

3rd in the east with almost a quarter of the season played, though, I'll take it.

[Buff]

Everybody needs to remember that Masai was fired for this.

[mtcan]

Read on Twitter

?s=20

At least some US media is starting to take notice.

Listened to the Hoop Collective pod from this past Sunday/Monday and it sounds like Cavs homer Windhorst was still bitter that his Cavs got beaten twice by the Raptors. Bontemps brought up the Raptors being being 7-2 in this string of games and Windy quickly moved on to talk Hawks and Magic...lol. **** ESPN. Then McMahon made a comment about how Windy picked the Raptors win like 20 games. Windy clearly is in his feelings.

[YogurtProducer]

fun fact, before this game even started, this season (9 games with poetl)has been the most that jak, scottie, IQ and barrett have ever played together in a season, add in another player they have never played with before in BI and some occasional sloppyness is to be expected. beyond that starting group which tends to chuck and play iso at the beginning this team is a fantastic passing team.

that's pretty crazy

ye, the injuries last year were wild

and when people tried to say that in the offseason they were ignored or laughed at lol.

Shockingly - continuity matters.

[YogurtProducer]

Need to clean up some of these turnovers and hit our FTs. These are silent killers and we're getting away with it against bad teams.

We were also out rebounded. Our record wont distract me from how bad we are without Yak. We have far too many wings and not a single legit backup center with size. If Yak goes down for a stretch of games we might be screwed!

yeah at this point, I wouldn't be against seeing what if anything we could get for Walter.

RJ + Walter or RJ + Ochai is the obvious move to be made if something popped up. There also really isn't a rush to do it, we can pretty much bring this entire team back next year and make the move in the summer.

RJ/Ochai for Lamelo Ball works in the trade machine....

[YogurtProducer]

No...it's the head down 1 vs 3/4 drives that he constantly did that people are talking about. That's bad RJ. Regardless if it goes in or not.

The best RJ is the head up willing to pass RJ. Catching the ball while already having a step on his man or curling around a screen is what we want. Last night he had WAY to many of the "I am going to try and score here and don't care what the defense is doing" drives.

And that's when people point out he has reverted back to the NYK RJ. And that RJ is frustrating to watch, regardless of results.

He has always bounced back to good RJ after having these spells. Hopefully good RJ shows up vs 76ers.

How many of these were actually really bad drives though? Maybe 1 or 2 of them? Most of the attempts were in transition where he's really good.

Last night RJ was 4/6 on drives with an assist

Brandon Ingram was 2/8 with no assists

Scottie was 1/5 with one assist, one TO

A fair whistle and this game is a 20+ point blowout.

Funny how much people remember the misses than the makes.

[Duffman100]

We were also out rebounded. Our record wont distract me from how bad we are without Yak. We have far too many wings and not a single legit backup center with size. If Yak goes down for a stretch of games we might be screwed!

yeah at this point, I wouldn't be against seeing what if anything we could get for Walter.

RJ + Walter or RJ + Ochai is the obvious move to be made if something popped up. There also really isn't a rush to do it, we can pretty much bring this entire team back next year and make the move in the summer.

RJ/Ochai for Lamelo Ball works in the trade machine....

Huh... we'd have to include at least one heavily protected 1st.

[sbsat]

The hornets finally seem to be stocking up on decent young players. So much so in fact I don't think Lamelo is a fit there long-term.

[ATLTimekeeper]

How many of these were actually really bad drives though? Maybe 1 or 2 of them? Most of the attempts were in transition where he's really good.

Last night RJ was 4/6 on drives with an assist

Brandon Ingram was 2/8 with no assists

Scottie was 1/5 with one assist, one TO

A fair whistle and this game is a 20+ point blowout.

Funny how much people remember the misses than the makes.

These are just on drives and so don't count transition. RJ also missed one at the rim off a bullet pass from Scottie, and he was 3/7 on the night at the rim. I actually think that was just a tough finish.

So people will react to missed transition opportunities, especially if they are attempting to score against multiple defenders. It's just always going to get a negative response when they miss.

[YogurtProducer]

yeah at this point, I wouldn't be against seeing what if anything we could get for Walter.

RJ + Walter or RJ + Ochai is the obvious move to be made if something popped up. There also really isn't a rush to do it, we can pretty much bring this entire team back next year and make the move in the summer.

RJ/Ochai for Lamelo Ball works in the trade machine....

Huh... we'd have to include at least one heavily protected 1st.

What would you realistically even offer?

Would be a BALLSY risky trade, but the upside of a IQ/Ball/Ingram/Barnes/Poeltl lineup makes you almost WANT to risk it.

At worst - Ball is an oft-injured, low effort player
At best - Ball is an all-nba talent giving you 22/7/9 a night. Moves IQ to more of a spot up role, further lets Barnes focus on being a menace defensively and Ball and Barnes when running would be lethal.

I really think him in a new situation would unlock him to. He wouldn't need to shoot 19 times a night, he would have better guys to playmake for (and somehow he still is at 10apg in CHA with those bums in only 32mpg), etc.

ASK OUT BALL. I wanna see it happen

Edit: and, we would have IQ/Ball/Barnes/Poeltl all locked up on solid deals through 2029.