PG: BENCH SLOBS SHART THE COURT

[Indeed]

Such a joke. Unwatchable product unless we make some trades. Otherwise tank it away. We have a generational draft coming up

We will be lucky not to trade away our pick, particularly if we are over the tax.
Meanwhile, we neither able to get to top 5 for any of the generational talent at our current record, but I believe we will have two 2nd round picks with our current record.

[Basketball_Jones]

Darko goes 10-11 players almost every night. It’s not really optimal for regular season success and it’s why a lot of teams like Denver and New York would ride out their starters and they’d be burned out by the playoffs. I think there’s a balance that can be reached and probably someone like Gradey just needs to be out of the rotation entirely.

[Tha Cynic]

Barnes was the rookie of the year in a stacked draft class... CMB wont even make the all rookie teams... what are you smoking with that comparison loll

Advanced stats are rather similar, just that Barnes was played in more minutes, where raw stats are much better.

Barnes was as raw as CMB on offense back then, with Siakam and Anunoby playing the bigger positions. CMB doesn't get the start, and his raw stats are not pretty limited because of minutes.

But yeah, CMB won't be rookie of the year, Flagg is just a much better player, and much better than anyone in the Barnes draft. Flagg already scored 20ppg with less being assisted.

How are you still defending this? Barnes was MUCH better than CMB in their rookie years and thats with CMB being a year older too.

I like the kid but CMB is a poor man's rookie Barnes at the moment.

It’s okay, poster is a troll who hates Barnes lol. Makes some really outlandish posts about him.

[mdenny]

Look at the bright side. No one can claim we only win against injury-depleted opponents: we lose to injury-depleted opponents too.

Hey we lost! Del posts.

Will he post when we win, of course not.

Is he a fan of the team? Nobody knows.

Might as well let him give away the game. I mean it's either one or the other: meaningless win or embarassing loss.

[Tripod]

Such a joke. Unwatchable product unless we make some trades. Otherwise tank it away. We have a generational draft coming up

We hear this every year. lol.

You should go check attendence, ratings and our allstar voting results if you think people arent tuning this franchise out. Most people I know dont give a crap about tbe Raptors after being hardcore fans for so long...

And certainly the Jays run didn't help.

Being that excited for a team and their playoffs to then go back to a poor product lots of nights, not worth the 3hrs of time

[DelAbbot]

Barnes was the rookie of the year in a stacked draft class... CMB wont even make the all rookie teams... what are you smoking with that comparison loll

Advanced stats are rather similar, just that Barnes was played in more minutes, where raw stats are much better.

Barnes was as raw as CMB on offense back then, with Siakam and Anunoby playing the bigger positions. CMB doesn't get the start, and his raw stats are not pretty limited because of minutes.

But yeah, CMB won't be rookie of the year, Flagg is just a much better player, and much better than anyone in the Barnes draft. Flagg already scored 20ppg with less being assisted.

How are you still defending this? Barnes was MUCH better than CMB in their rookie years and thats with CMB being a year older too.

I like the kid but CMB is a poor man's rookie Barnes at the moment.

There is no way CMB will be as good as Scottie Barnes. Scottie has physical attributes outlier even for NBA, while CMB is undersized.

Watch on YouTube

[tsherkin]

37/27/81 team shooting percentages. That's... savagely bad.

We did very well on the O-boards. Ingram and Scottie had nice games. So did RJ.

The bench was useless, and we basically couldn't crawl out of the first quarter hole.

CMB got shots and sucked from any sort of distance, but he was crushing the boards. Mamu had a dreadful game. First half D was a huge problem.

Denver didn't even play well, particularly in the second half. Their overall shooting was pretty rough. We just couldn't capitalize, and had absolutely no offense from the bench.

Rough one.

Nice to see the big three looking good on O, though. Quick had a rough one, despite getting to the line a ton. But Scottie, RJ and BI looked good, and that at least is promising.

[Indeed]

Barnes was the rookie of the year in a stacked draft class... CMB wont even make the all rookie teams... what are you smoking with that comparison loll

Advanced stats are rather similar, just that Barnes was played in more minutes, where raw stats are much better.

Barnes was as raw as CMB on offense back then, with Siakam and Anunoby playing the bigger positions. CMB doesn't get the start, and his raw stats are not pretty limited because of minutes.

But yeah, CMB won't be rookie of the year, Flagg is just a much better player, and much better than anyone in the Barnes draft. Flagg already scored 20ppg with less being assisted.

How are you still defending this? Barnes was MUCH better than CMB in their rookie years and thats with CMB being a year older too.

I like the kid but CMB is a poor man's rookie Barnes at the moment.

Google result said otherwise

Scottie Barnes was older than Collin Murray-Boyles
during their respective rookie seasons; Barnes was 20 during his rookie year (2021-22), while Murray-Boyles was 20 but a few months younger, making Barnes about 3-4 months older, with Barnes drafted in 2021 and Murray-Boyles in 2025.

The advanced stats are the same, so please point out what was MUCH better with Barnes in his rookie year as compare to Murray-Boyles, please avoid using raw stats, since he does not have control over minutes.

[PushDaRock]

Get rid of Dick and replace him with a reliable bench player and we probably have another 2-3 more wins today. It’s an easy fix if they really want to improve this team without any big moves.

Btw teams lose to injured teams all the time. Stop overreacting and go enjoy the new year lol

This was still a pretty frustrating L from the perspective that Denver is not good defensively (22nd in the league) even when healthy and we still put up an absolute stinker against them. Locked down defensively in the 2nd half and still couldn't pull it out because we were so inept on offense. It's a pretty worrying trend how bad the offense has been.

[Boardbreaker]

CMN needs to be the 5th starter while Yak is out. Should be getting 30 mins/game he’s such a difference maker out there even when he’s missing bunnies

[Tor_Raps]

Advanced stats are rather similar, just that Barnes was played in more minutes, where raw stats are much better.

Barnes was as raw as CMB on offense back then, with Siakam and Anunoby playing the bigger positions. CMB doesn't get the start, and his raw stats are not pretty limited because of minutes.

But yeah, CMB won't be rookie of the year, Flagg is just a much better player, and much better than anyone in the Barnes draft. Flagg already scored 20ppg with less being assisted.

How are you still defending this? Barnes was MUCH better than CMB in their rookie years and thats with CMB being a year older too.

I like the kid but CMB is a poor man's rookie Barnes at the moment.

Google result said otherwise

Scottie Barnes was older than Collin Murray-Boyles
during their respective rookie seasons; Barnes was 20 during his rookie year (2021-22), while Murray-Boyles was 20 but a few months younger, making Barnes about 3-4 months older, with Barnes drafted in 2021 and Murray-Boyles in 2025.

The advanced stats are the same, so please point out what was MUCH better with Barnes in his rookie year as compare to Murray-Boyles, please avoid using raw stats, since he does not have control over minutes.

Barnes only played 1 year in college when CMB played 2 so assumed Barnes was younger.

If I you are strictly using advanced stats in a sport that doesnt really accept them completely (this is not baseball) then thats your problem. I shouldn't have to provide anything to argue this, it would be 99% in favour of Barnes lol.

[ItsDanger]

CMB's offense appears quite limited. He was a 2 year college player so no excuses. He should be more advanced at this point. Luckily, he is in NBA where they pamper players endlessly.

[PushDaRock]

Darko goes 10-11 players almost every night. It’s not really optimal for regular season success and it’s why a lot of teams like Denver and New York would ride out their starters and they’d be burned out by the playoffs. I think there’s a balance that can be reached and probably someone like Gradey just needs to be out of the rotation entirely.

Works well for OKC though which I think is the model we were going for. Mins are competitive, so guys need to play well to earn them. lol just ended up the complete opposite with most guys crapping the bed instead for us unfortunately.

[Basketball_Jones]

Darko goes 10-11 players almost every night. It’s not really optimal for regular season success and it’s why a lot of teams like Denver and New York would ride out their starters and they’d be burned out by the playoffs. I think there’s a balance that can be reached and probably someone like Gradey just needs to be out of the rotation entirely.

Works well for OKC though which I think is the model we were going for. Mins are competitive, so guys need to play well to earn them. lol just ended up the complete opposite with most guys crapping the bed instead for us unfortunately.

Yeah OKC is so freakin deep

[tsherkin]

There is no way CMB will be as good as Scottie Barnes. Scottie has physical attributes outlier even for NBA, while CMB is undersized.

Mmmm. He's 6'7 without shoes, 6'8 in shoes, was drafted at 225. Wingspan was 7'2.75", standing reach 9'. The size isn't a crazy outlier, though that reach is something like +7.5", which is good stuff. His quickness is nothing to write home about in terms of explosion, though he moves well laterally. Again, not really at an outlier level.

I wouldn't really be looking at him as a wild physical outlier. He's strong and he's got reach, and he has reasonable height for a combo forward. He's also got a very good head on his shoulders in terms of predicting the play, communication and all that.

Meantime, CMB was half an inch shorter than Scottie at the draft without shoes (6'6.5"), and 239 pounds, with a 7'0.75" wingspan. So again, we're talking about a half inch of height and two inches difference in wingspan. His standing reach is only 2" less than Scottie and he's actually sturdier of build. He's definitely not undersized relative to Barnes.

[Tha Cynic]

Get rid of Dick and replace him with a reliable bench player and we probably have another 2-3 more wins today. It’s an easy fix if they really want to improve this team without any big moves.

Btw teams lose to injured teams all the time. Stop overreacting and go enjoy the new year lol

This was still a pretty frustrating L from the perspective that Denver is not good defensively (22nd in the league) even when healthy and we still put up an absolute stinker against them. Locked down defensively in the 2nd half and still couldn't pull it out because we were so inept on offense. It's a pretty worrying trend how bad the offense has been.

We have a bad coach and a team that’s clearly not complete. This team was a lottery team last year. They’re still learning how to win, and they’ve been showing some good signs. But bench needs an upgrade for sure

[mdenny]

Barnes was the rookie of the year in a stacked draft class... CMB wont even make the all rookie teams... what are you smoking with that comparison loll

Advanced stats are rather similar, just that Barnes was played in more minutes, where raw stats are much better.

Barnes was as raw as CMB on offense back then, with Siakam and Anunoby playing the bigger positions. CMB doesn't get the start, and his raw stats are not pretty limited because of minutes.

But yeah, CMB won't be rookie of the year, Flagg is just a much better player, and much better than anyone in the Barnes draft. Flagg already scored 20ppg with less being assisted.

How are you still defending this? Barnes was MUCH better than CMB in their rookie years and thats with CMB being a year older too.

I like the kid but CMB is a poor man's rookie Barnes at the moment.

Fwiw...i prefer CMB be struggling with his shot touch than struggling with his passing. He has shown that he's gonna be an EXCELLENT passer which is far harder to develop than touch around the net.

The past couple weeks have been great for him.

[whitehops]

This team is 4th in East currently. But 4 teams are right behind them and Raps could easily be 8th in a week or 2. Will the narrative change then?

all the teams behind them are playing ~.500 ball though (which is what the raps have been playing lately). so even if they lose a game or two of ground they're still very much in the race to finish top 6 or even home court advantage in round one. it's a long season.

[kalel123]

CMB's effort was great out there and he still had a positive impact but he missed so many bunnies tonight along with his 3's of course. Looks like he's going to get a lot more mins going forward so he needs to start figuring out his offensive game and how he can be more effective at that end.

CMB might be better than Barnes at the same age, just that Barnes got the start, even Barnes wasn't a good fit with Siakam.
I project CMB being a better 3&D player if Barnes is at best a 3&D with passing.

Wow, this is just speaking out the ass out of hate. GTFOH b<oops didn't realize the word wouldn't filter>h

[Tor_Raps]

Advanced stats are rather similar, just that Barnes was played in more minutes, where raw stats are much better.

Barnes was as raw as CMB on offense back then, with Siakam and Anunoby playing the bigger positions. CMB doesn't get the start, and his raw stats are not pretty limited because of minutes.

But yeah, CMB won't be rookie of the year, Flagg is just a much better player, and much better than anyone in the Barnes draft. Flagg already scored 20ppg with less being assisted.

How are you still defending this? Barnes was MUCH better than CMB in their rookie years and thats with CMB being a year older too.

I like the kid but CMB is a poor man's rookie Barnes at the moment.

Fwiw...i prefer CMB be struggling with his shot touch than struggling with his passing. He has shown that he's gonna be an EXCELLENT passer which is far harder to develop than touch around the net.

The past couple weeks have been great for him.

I love the kid as a prospect but it would be nice if this team had a few natural scorers on the team. Watching a bench full of guys who cant score is excruciating.