Since Barrett’s injury Raptors offensive rating has plummeted to last in the league

[dballislife]

we have nobody that replaces rj's skillset...no1 else on our roster can drive downhill, cut, and consistently score inside like him...we are a very perimeter oriented team that lacks balance with no rj

[LoveMyRaps]

We're not allowed to say RJ's absence is hurting us because it's considered "propaganda".

[DelAbbot]

I prefer RJ over BI long term (without considering contracts)

[LoveMyRaps]

I prefer RJ over BI long term (without considering contracts)

Me too

Ingram is the 4th best player on this team after Barnes, Quick, and RJ.

[iBall101]

They crucified RJ on this board during the summer.
Crazy, how tables turned (way before the deadline)

[TeamDisgruntled]

This run has also coincided with a god awful 6 game stretch for Ingram where he’s shooting 39.8% from the floor, 25% from 3pt and averaging more turnovers (3.7) than assists (3.3). It’s gonna be hard to win games when your best offensive player is playing like your worst.

I’m starting to worry about his 3pt%, it’s beginning to seem like we have another guy who isn’t a very good 3pt shooter. You have to wonder if we’d be better off with someone like Lavigne or MPJ. MPJ doesn’t quite provide the ball handling ability but just based on shooting percentages and how massive we would be.

[PushDaRock]

This run has also coincided with a god awful 6 game stretch for Ingram where he’s shooting 39.8% from the floor, 25% from 3pt and averaging more turnovers (3.7) than assists (3.3). It’s gonna be hard to win games when your best offensive player is playing like your worst.

I’m starting to worry about his 3pt%, it’s beginning to seem like we have another guy who isn’t a very good 3pt shooter. You have to wonder if we’d be better off with someone like Lavigne or MPJ. MPJ doesn’t quite provide the ball handling ability but just based on shooting percentages and how massive we would be.

Lavine is so bad at everything else that his extremely efficient volume scoring is not enough to overcome it.

MPJ has scaled up his USG significantly and his efficiency has held up so far. That would be an interesting one, he's not really an ISO scorer so we likely take a bit of a hit in half court offense especially at the end of games, but he's a contested shot maker and elite volume 3 point shooter. The D is a wash, neither is a good defender. It would cost us at least 1 FRP to pull off a Ingram for MPJ swap. Things will probably need to continue to really go south for Ingram for us to consider something like this.

[Boogie!]

It isn't a huge mystery. He's off-ball a lot more, shooting primarily inside 10 feet and not being asked to front huge volume. 34.6% of his shots are in the RA, and another 22.4% from 3-10 feet. Nearly a quarter of his 3s are from the corner. He's getting almost 5.5 possessions per game in transition (almost 31% of his shooting volume) and is taking just under 14 FGA/g overall.

Reduced volume, increased proportion of transition action, almost entirely excluding shots beyond 10 feet and inside the arc, the highest proportion of assisted baskets since the trade season (the last time he shot this well)...

It's not rocket science. He shouldn't be used as a primary on-ball initiator, and he doesn't have a lot of mid-range game. But he cuts very well, he attacks well in transition, he can hit from the corner (over 38% from the corners right now, and that is not unprecedented for him), and we aren't asking him to float shooting volume that's too much. He's probably going to normalize on his short game to some degree by the end of the season, but this is how RJ should be used. It's basically how we were using him right after the trade, too.

People take the things he does for granted, it's not a skillset that many guys have. Replacing him with a 3&D guy makes this offense have to work so much harder to score.

Yup. It's obvious 3+D is not the answer. The offense becomes static & too perimeter oriented.

This team needs rim pressure.

I mean it would also help if the 3 and d guys were scrual legitimate 3 and d guys and we don’t have any. When I say legitimate? Meaning they actually have to hit 3s at a high rate and defend at a high level a well. Even our specialist 3 point shooters suck at shooting and the only legitimate defensive guy we have off the bench (shead) isn’t a good shooter…

[PushDaRock]

People take the things he does for granted, it's not a skillset that many guys have. Replacing him with a 3&D guy makes this offense have to work so much harder to score.

Yup. It's obvious 3+D is not the answer. The offense becomes static & too perimeter oriented.

This team needs rim pressure.

I mean it would also help if the 3 and d guys were scrual legitimate 3 and d guys and we don’t have any. When I say legitimate? Meaning they actually have to hit 3s at a high rate and defend at a high level a well. Even our specialist 3 point shooters suck at shooting and the only legitimate defensive guy we have off the bench (shead) isn’t a good shooter…

Well, I would say Battle sucks at shooting

[LBJKB24MJ23]

They crucified RJ on this board during the summer.
Crazy, how tables turned (way before the deadline)

i think they'll crucify him regardless. doesn't matter if he is playing or not.

[mdenny]

The "ball goes in/ball goes out" ppl will start criticizing RJ again as soon as he returns and plays his role of pressuring the rim which will ALWAYS have mixed results.

If you just watch basketball on the surface level then you are always going to praise the guys who play opportunistic roles and criticize the guys who are burdened with creating. Ball goes in = he's amazing. Ball doesn't go in = he sucks. So of course the guys playing off ball who eat up the open catch-and-shoot plays will be celebrated.

Being liked or disliked in our gamethread is a function of what role you play on the team. The more plays you are tasked with making in the half-court sets....the more criticism you will get. This is why noone is ever a good point guard around here.

Pressuring the lane is another process-orientated role that has ramnifications beyond whether the ball goes in the goal.

All this emphasis on efficiency is a good example of Goodhart's law which is pretty fascinating: when a measure becomes a target it ceases to be a good measure.

If you had an entire starting lineup of players each trying to maximize their FG efficiency....you'd have a losing team. You NEED players who sacrifice their efficiency in trying to create.

[Psubs]

They crucified RJ on this board during the summer.
Crazy, how tables turned (way before the deadline)

i think they'll crucify him regardless. doesn't matter if he is playing or not.

I've changed by stance on him. He looked like he fixed his shot and is the only player that puts pressure at the rim.

[TorontoBarneys]

Yes, it would appear that RJ and Jakob are integral to this team functioning properly. I wasn't giving RJ his flowers properly at the start of the season. Hopefully he's back soon.

[Westside Gunn]

I can understand the criticism in New York and people were so hung up on the reported "Toxic asset" label that was associated with him amongst executives.

But as soon as he got here, he improved his game, and in his current year he's importance has progressed to a dependency on him for the team's overall success.

The league will give him is flowers if the team goes back to its winning ways upon his return. If not, the raps got got by the scouts

[execoftheyear]

I prefer RJ over BI long term (without considering contracts)

Me too

Ingram is the 4th best player on this team after Barnes, Quick, and RJ.

I still think Ingram's our second best player. He's getting blitzed and double teamed...problem is, with RJ out and Jak in and out of the lineup and the rest of the team not being able to capitalize/take advantage of this, it just allows teams to continue to blitz him. Scottie's doing his thing but we need that third player which seemed to be either IQ or RJ. I feel like we need a more consistent third option. Plus Ingram looks gassed out there and coming off an injury, I think we need to ease up on his usage and potentially load manage him. Problem is we need him to win regular season games unlike the season with Kawhi where the rest of the roster carried during the regular season.

[RoteSchroder]

They crucified RJ on this board during the summer.
Crazy, how tables turned (way before the deadline)

i think they'll crucify him regardless. doesn't matter if he is playing or not.

I've changed by stance on him. He looked like he fixed his shot and is the only player that puts pressure at the rim.

He's been a ~36-40% catch and shoot player for nearly his entire career. It's why he immediately jumped up in 3 point efficiency in his first year with the Raps.

It's when you put him in an on-ball/PG role that he gets into major efficiency trouble. Knicks had line-ups with RJ + bench where RJ would be the lead guard.

[kalel123]

So what is going on with RJ Barrett? Hasn't it been a while since he's been out? Haven't seen any update or has there been one and I'm just missing it?

[Basketball_Jones]

Yeah, I think this cements RJ as a lock for us to get him signed. He’s the best of the bunch of shooting guards by a wiiiiiide margin. It’s astronomical. We won’t acquire anyone better for a long time and there is no one projecting to be even close to his production in our development system.

[mdenny]

They crucified RJ on this board during the summer.
Crazy, how tables turned (way before the deadline)

In terms of perception.....the best thing a raptor can do for his rep on this board is to get injured and sit games out.

RJ went from the most hated to the most beloved lol.

Get injured, consistently defer to other teammates, don't dribble or create = the secret to praise on this board.

[HumbleRen]

Yeah, I think this cements RJ as a lock for us to get him signed. He’s the best of the bunch of shooting guards by a wiiiiiide margin. It’s astronomical. We won’t acquire anyone better for a long time and there is no one projecting to be even close to his production in our development system.

I think the opposite. I think there’s more of a chance we tear it down than give him an extension.