PG: Gritty win in Phily (9-1 in last 10, 5 W straight)

[raptorforlife88]

The turnovers come from Scottie’s hesitance on offence. He doesn’t know if he should take the easy drive or force a pass under the rim that turns into a turnover. Just needs to be more selfish when he’s in the paint and the turnovers will go away.

Once he gets below the free throw line he should not be passing back out. Dude needs to just flat out go strong to the basket

His "strong" finishes have been sad lately. Dunk it on them man.

0 FTA over the last two games. A bit of that is on the refs, but it's also on Scottie to absolutely attack harder than he hsa.

[bluerap23]

I guess as a team coming off a season like last year, winning the games you are supposed to is a step in the right direction. Schedule's definitely favoring us. Hope is they get into enough of a groove that by the time tough stretch of the season comes around, they can still win some of the harder games.

I like RJ especially when he's not forcing things, picks his spots, and competes on defense but can't help but feel if there's going to be improvement to the starting lineup, that's where it should come from. Either in the form of better defense, more shooting, or more explosiveness. All of the above preferrably but that's a pipe dream. But all the other players in starting lineup have something definitive to offer over Barrett. Problem is, I have no idea where that upgrade would be coming from or how. So we have to play bit of the long game with that one. For now, would be happy if they did something about roster imbalance and got another big that can play PF/C. That's going to come bite us in the ass at some point this season if something isn't done.

The funny thing is that we have something like 5th easiest schedule the rest of the season. Probably because we have so many home games. East is a cake walk

[PushDaRock]

RJ was horrendous in the first half but did much better in the 2nd. I would still argue that he is our weakest link in the starting line up and I can see the Raptors moving him later in the season or over the summer.

We do this all the time. No player is perfect. We know that and all other GMs know that.

Who are we going to get who is better than RJ for RJ? Why would another GM give up a better player for him? And no I dont want an often injured AD.

Sure we could trade him for expiring and picks, but that helps us win how?

RJ for Derrick White.....just an example. They were looking to make that trade recently, but didn't go through because of picks.

We were, the Celtics were not. lol basically shows you the problem in trying to upgrade from RJ. An actual upgrade is a very valuable player that no team wants to trade away.

[bluerap23]

Once he gets below the free throw line he should not be passing back out. Dude needs to just flat out go strong to the basket

His "strong" finishes have been sad lately. Dunk it on them man.

0 FTA over the last two games. A bit of that is on the refs, but it's also on Scottie to absolutely attack harder than he hsa.

I mean - he has been getting completely hacked. Especially last game. And he has been attacking and dunking on guys. Maybe the poor whistle is actually helping his aggression.

[TheAlchemist23]

[MiamiSPX]

7-3 on the road. We’ve played a quarter of our road games already.

[bape_lovers]

The one where he scream and then got the ball back to dunk, was clear as hell a foul.

His "strong" finishes have been sad lately. Dunk it on them man.

0 FTA over the last two games. A bit of that is on the refs, but it's also on Scottie to absolutely attack harder than he hsa.

I mean - he has been getting completely hacked. Especially last game. And he has been attacking and dunking on guys. Maybe the poor whistle is actually helping his aggression.

[LLJ]

I guess as a team coming off a season like last year, winning the games you are supposed to is a step in the right direction. Schedule's definitely favoring us. Hope is they get into enough of a groove that by the time tough stretch of the season comes around, they can still win some of the harder games.

I like RJ especially when he's not forcing things, picks his spots, and competes on defense but can't help but feel if there's going to be improvement to the starting lineup, that's where it should come from. Either in the form of better defense, more shooting, or more explosiveness. All of the above preferrably but that's a pipe dream. But all the other players in starting lineup have something definitive to offer over Barrett. Problem is, I have no idea where that upgrade would be coming from or how. So we have to play bit of the long game with that one. For now, would be happy if they did something about roster imbalance and got another big that can play PF/C. That's going to come bite us in the ass at some point this season if something isn't done.

The early part of our schedule was "supposedly" one of the hardest in the league, with a bunch of games on the road and Cleveland and Atlanta and Milwaukee initially predicted to be better than they currently appear to be. We were supposed to have a tough time with those teams, but they look about as strong as any other "decent" EC teams.

The fact is so far the East really does look wide open. The very top EC teams simply do not look significantly better than the 5th-8th teams. It seems very possible a scenario where most of the top EC teams get curb stomped on all their West Coast trips could still be a top 4 team in the East.

[Tha Cynic]

The turnovers come from Scottie’s hesitance on offence. He doesn’t know if he should take the easy drive or force a pass under the rim that turns into a turnover. Just needs to be more selfish when he’s in the paint and the turnovers will go away.

Once he gets below the free throw line he should not be passing back out. Dude needs to just flat out go strong to the basket

His "strong" finishes have been sad lately. Dunk it on them man.

The butterfingers was back today too. Too many times he missed bunnies. He’s had a couple of bad offensive games in a row but good sign that they’re still winning and his other impact on the court is so huge it can overcome his mediocre offensive game and make him look very positively noticeable

[SFour]

We do this all the time. No player is perfect. We know that and all other GMs know that.

Who are we going to get who is better than RJ for RJ? Why would another GM give up a better player for him? And no I dont want an often injured AD.

Sure we could trade him for expiring and picks, but that helps us win how?

RJ for Derrick White.....just an example. They were looking to make that trade recently, but didn't go through because of picks.

We were, the Celtics were not. lol basically shows you the problem in trying to upgrade from RJ. An actual upgrade is a very valuable player that no team wants to trade away.

I think it's because they wanted 2 FRPs....but there's a chance it could get done for 1 FRP.

[rapsincr]

lol 6 more road wins to pass last years total.

[lobosloboslobos]

so we're in 2nd place with the least home games of any team in the league

[Tripod]

Quickley/Shead
Barrett/Dick
Ingram/CMB
Barnes/Mamu
Poeltl/(Backup C)

Mamu's weaknesses were on full display tonight. Gonna need better rebounding ability and interior D from our backup C.

Nah, I'll take his spacing, scoring ability and mobile perimeter D over some scrub C we put in there just to rebound and contest shots at the rim while killing our offense and spacing.

Yeah, I'd prefer that as well. But doesn't hurt to add another center to this team. Depth never hurts.

Yup. I want another C for those games where Yak misses, gets in foul trouble, or is a bad matchup for Mamu.

It's about having options in games where you need it. We certainly could have used it in the first few games of the season that Yak missed/played awful thru injury.

[PushDaRock]

RJ for Derrick White.....just an example. They were looking to make that trade recently, but didn't go through because of picks.

We were, the Celtics were not. lol basically shows you the problem in trying to upgrade from RJ. An actual upgrade is a very valuable player that no team wants to trade away.

I think it's because they wanted 2 FRPs....but there's a chance it could get done for 1 FRP.

lol but how does it get done when they're asking for the moon for these types of players? That's the point of what I am saying.

[Tha Cynic]

so we're in 2nd place with the least home games of any team in the league

Raptors have been the best team in the East so far. We’ll see if it holds up vs the Knicks, Celtics and Heat

I’m still not taking Pistons seriously though Duran has been a monster

[SFour]

We were, the Celtics were not. lol basically shows you the problem in trying to upgrade from RJ. An actual upgrade is a very valuable player that no team wants to trade away.

I think it's because they wanted 2 FRPs....but there's a chance it could get done for 1 FRP.

lol but how does it get done when they're asking for the moon for these types of players? That's the point of what I am saying.

in bargaining you usually ask for the moon to start...and then settle for less.

Anyways it's not the end of the world if we keep RJ....I'm not an RJ hater.....I'm scared of his next contract but that's about it.

[D3158]

Concrete win as a TEAM. All positives, just one grip. Ingram needs to realize the double team is coming and he needs to react a bit quicker.

[AkelaLoneWolf]

IQ really showed up in the 4th after a slow start for him scoring. We're not winning without the clutch threes he hit. I have been incredibly skeptical of him, but he has been key to basically all the recent wins. I don't know if he's worth 32 million a year, but he is solid player.

the contract is easier to swallow if he can at least be a threat from 3.....the starting lineup needs it

if he's not worth 32.5M what is he worth exactly.

[Boogie!]

We do this all the time. No player is perfect. We know that and all other GMs know that.

Who are we going to get who is better than RJ for RJ? Why would another GM give up a better player for him? And no I dont want an often injured AD.

Sure we could trade him for expiring and picks, but that helps us win how?

RJ for Derrick White.....just an example. They were looking to make that trade recently, but didn't go through because of picks.

We were, the Celtics were not. lol basically shows you the problem in trying to upgrade from RJ. An actual upgrade is a very valuable player that no team wants to trade away.

Derrick white who is shooting 36%/31% is supposed to fit this team better than Rj?

Oh right because defense first is more important than anything else… again it’s like people just want to trade players for the sake of getting rid of players.

The only way it makes sense to trade Rj is if you’re using him to get a star player, i.e derozan for kawhi.

Otherwise the only trades the raptors should be looking at right now are improving their bench. If they want to get a player like white for defense, he should be replacing one of their weaker bench players like Walter or dick.

[PushDaRock]

I think it's because they wanted 2 FRPs....but there's a chance it could get done for 1 FRP.

lol but how does it get done when they're asking for the moon for these types of players? That's the point of what I am saying.

in bargaining you usually ask for the moon to start...and then settle for less.

Anyways it's not the end of the world if we keep RJ....I'm not an RJ hater.....I'm scared of his next contract but that's about it.

Why do they need to settle when they're perfectly happy having him on the roster? You need to "overpay" to get these guys. Eg. Mikal Bridges