PG: Raptors escape embarrassment

[Kingsway_fan]

AT this age, still feel Jeremy Lin is better than FVV, if we want to win a champ, we need better bench, can we trade FVV, CJ miles, Monroe for Lin, Dedman and carter??
Dedman can play D and rebound as a 4th big for this team, Monroe is done, can't trust him.
Carter >> CJ

This trade is best for both... I think salaries match... we could throw in a second too.....would love to see this...

[Kingsway_fan]

While happy for another win, we really need JV back. I think the Hawks had like 50 rebounds, iirc

They destroyed us on boards....with two midget pgs starting, Monroe at c, poor rebounding and defending....

[Kingsway_fan]

Didn’t watch the game cause I was like wow Hawks ? Easy blowout ....


It was so fitting to look at the play-by-play and see VC missed a game tieing 3 in possibly his last game in Toronto

There was. 0.7 secs left with no timeouts... hardly a last second shot when you get the ball 75 feet away with time expired......

[Tim Horton]

my first live game last night and it was worth it. we were cheering for VC but of course wanting our team to win.

and can we get LIN? If that was an audition, I say WHEN can you start??

[HeadtopChunes]

My take away from last night was Lin can run a offence better than both fred and delon. I don't understand why the suns don't trade for him. There's too much competition in the buyout market to wait and hope he choses you.

Imagine if Lin gets signed by the Raps? Our city, with its large Asian community, would explode!

Lin always got cheered here even while playing for other teams, if he was a Rap I feel like his jersey would crack the top 10 in sales league-wide.

i can see the thousands of OVO Lin jerseys already

[Yeezus_]

1. Team will be awful to watch next year, if kawhi bolts

2. We really need someone like Lin, Fred and lowry making me nervous

Lowry makes you nervous but Lin helps? Man...

[Kordic27]

Was anyone else never at all worried?

[GoodOne]

Btw Danny greens outfit though. Wonder if asians are gonna go Kmart on him and complain about cultural appropriation. Next thing you know jv gonna be wearing dashikis to the game.

what was he wearing?

Kung fu outfit.

My first thought was that he looked like a cleric from The Matrix. Have you been red pilled Danny?

[GoodOne]

Don't know why this board is going crazy.

The offense is so much more fluid with Lowry in...not stagnant anymore.

Hawks hit a lot of really tough shots and killed us on the offensive boards.

Not worried, good win. This is what good teams do...how many games do we remember in the old era when we would play a top team...stay in the game and then get crushed in the last 2 minutes. Feels good to be the team that now does it.

We shouldn't be as bad as we are offensively with Lowry out.

I agree but it's also tough when you miss a key bench player in JV and Miles can't hit a wide open shot to save his life.

With JV and Lowry out and Fred inserted into the starting unit, the bench misses its two best players and our starting line-up isn't as strong.

Lowry is a very important player. I mean look at Golden State's offense without Steph...it becomes much more stagnant and less fluid. In basketball, all-star players have a huge impact.

Just to get your terminology straight, JV was designated to be a "co-starter", not a bench player. JV earned his starter role through years of hard work and dedication to the team.

[GoodOne]

Here is what I have gathered from watching Fred last year and this year.

Fred is a short point guard who is undersized for his position in todays NBA. He has developed his playmaking skills very differently than Lowry. He dribbles until he finds seems in the defence and then looks to pass to a teammate expecting them to be there and they are usually out of position. The problem is no one is moving and cutting and when he finds a seem no one is in a good position to take the pass and let a good shot off. He wastes alot of time on the clock with his dribble. This worked well last year because Siakim and Purtle were part of the bench and they move! They are always cutting and moving so they understood where to put themselves for Fred to find them. Currently Delon, OG, Norm and the rest of the bench are too stagnant and are not moving much, forget Moose hes a pylon on defence and offence.

Lowry on the other hand actually leads players to shots and leads them to good spots on the floor hence why the offence is so much better with him being a facilitator. Lowry is also a much better communicator with his team on the floor than Fred is.

This then comes to my frustration with Nurse not trying Siakim on the bench with Fred on the bench unit. We need cutters and movers with Fred for him to be successful. Why not try OG back on the starting unit and put siakim on the bench unit. You can always switch it up during games based on matchups. I am just tired of the lack IQ from Nurse he definitely isn’t the genius people touted him as being, hes closer to being a Jay Triano in my eyes.

I have to agree it's kind of tough now for the bench unit because the starting lineup is all front heavy with Siakam in there now, and now the bench is relatively much weaker without Siakam.

Not sure what is the quick fix. Hopefully when JV returns there is a big overall change, because then they can depend on a big body to pummel smaller lineups on the inside, rather than depend on the bench unit young players who are mostly PG/SG/SF.

But at least NormGod is playing well which is nice. Really need the whole team healthy, it's just so frustrating how JV got injured like that, really took wind out of the sails.

I have noticed that Nurse has been mixing more starter time into the bench to compensate for lower bench performance. I think the time is coming when Nurse has to solidify the starter and bench lineups. Mixing and matching is appropriate at times, but the downside is that it can lead to chaos and chemistry issues.

[StopitLeo]

So, this is what having an MVP and DPOY calibre player looks like. Kawhi is such a ridiculous threat on offense one-on-one and he's getting better at making the right pass at the right time when doubled. And then he can lock you down on the other end. That's going to be a big difference maker in the playoffs. We have a guy who can defend the opponents' best player at an elite level and the other team does not.

[Dirk]

Obligatory.

[AreBe]

AT this age, still feel Jeremy Lin is better than FVV, if we want to win a champ, we need better bench, can we trade FVV, CJ miles, Monroe for Lin, Dedman and carter??
Dedman can play D and rebound as a 4th big for this team, Monroe is done, can't trust him.
Carter >> CJ

This trade is best for both... I think salaries match... we could throw in a second too.....would love to see this...

CJ Miles is not trade-able, Not so sure FVV is either as teams have figured out how to block his lay -up.

Monroe is a third option centre.

You need to throw in a lot of booze to make the trade work.

[cruwinas]

I watched two games between Pacers and Hawks - Hawks are better than their record. Not much of an embarrassment playing with your own roster not a 100%.

[Danny1616]

We shouldn't be as bad as we are offensively with Lowry out.

I agree but it's also tough when you miss a key bench player in JV and Miles can't hit a wide open shot to save his life.

With JV and Lowry out and Fred inserted into the starting unit, the bench misses its two best players and our starting line-up isn't as strong.

Lowry is a very important player. I mean look at Golden State's offense without Steph...it becomes much more stagnant and less fluid. In basketball, all-star players have a huge impact.

Just to get your terminology straight, JV was designated to be a "co-starter", not a bench player. JV earned his starter role through years of hard work and dedication to the team.

Doesn't change my point.

Ibaka or JV on the bench is a major upgrade over Monroe.

Point is that with these injuries the 2nd unit has been missing two key players regardless of whether it is JV or Ibaka. Moreover, until last week we were missing Norm and CJ couldn't hit a shot to save his life.

[ATLTimekeeper]

Here is what I have gathered from watching Fred last year and this year.

Fred is a short point guard who is undersized for his position in todays NBA. He has developed his playmaking skills very differently than Lowry. He dribbles until he finds seems in the defence and then looks to pass to a teammate expecting them to be there and they are usually out of position. The problem is no one is moving and cutting and when he finds a seem no one is in a good position to take the pass and let a good shot off. He wastes alot of time on the clock with his dribble. This worked well last year because Siakim and Purtle were part of the bench and they move! They are always cutting and moving so they understood where to put themselves for Fred to find them. Currently Delon, OG, Norm and the rest of the bench are too stagnant and are not moving much, forget Moose hes a pylon on defence and offence.

Lowry on the other hand actually leads players to shots and leads them to good spots on the floor hence why the offence is so much better with him being a facilitator. Lowry is also a much better communicator with his team on the floor than Fred is.

fwiw, I think you have a point but I don't think the difference is all that significant. Kyle has had a long time in his career to get to this point, but for the most part averaged about 7 assists/36 up until this year when he pretty much turned into Rondo. This is a new Kyle, even by his own standards.

Fred is averaging about 6/36, and that's about where he was last year, too.

You have to consider that Kyle has been an all-star for several years and has free reign to make whatever dumbass pass he wants without any fear he'll get yanked. Kyle wasn't really an established scorer until his 8th season (and 2nd in Toronto). That's when he became a star and a guy who was a threat to go off from deep on high volume. He was 27. Fred is 24, just clawing his way into the league.

[Dalek]

Quick observations from the game:

Monroe saps the energy from the bench. He can't defend, can't make shots inside on offense reliably, and now is missing freethrows. I'd try Boucher over him or trade for another guy.

Give credit to Trae Young. He plays like a vet with his hesitation dribble and advanced floaters in the lane. With lob monster Collins, he can really keep a defense off balance. That said, the dribble containment was pretty weak all game long.

Everyone talks about Kawhi having a dominant defensive game, but that was the best I have seen OG play defense. Even in that final sequence where Kawhi stole the ball, OG contained Collins who had to dump the ball off to the perimeter.

Siakam struggles with athletic physical PFs and OG showed some good spirit yesterday guarding multiple players and even making some good decisions on offense late (outside of him dunking the ball instead of running out the clock).

[jbrown_87]

Was anyone else never at all worried?

Not at all fam, we have Kawhi.

[Danny1616]

Here is what I have gathered from watching Fred last year and this year.

Fred is a short point guard who is undersized for his position in todays NBA. He has developed his playmaking skills very differently than Lowry. He dribbles until he finds seems in the defence and then looks to pass to a teammate expecting them to be there and they are usually out of position. The problem is no one is moving and cutting and when he finds a seem no one is in a good position to take the pass and let a good shot off. He wastes alot of time on the clock with his dribble. This worked well last year because Siakim and Purtle were part of the bench and they move! They are always cutting and moving so they understood where to put themselves for Fred to find them. Currently Delon, OG, Norm and the rest of the bench are too stagnant and are not moving much, forget Moose hes a pylon on defence and offence.

Lowry on the other hand actually leads players to shots and leads them to good spots on the floor hence why the offence is so much better with him being a facilitator. Lowry is also a much better communicator with his team on the floor than Fred is.

This then comes to my frustration with Nurse not trying Siakim on the bench with Fred on the bench unit. We need cutters and movers with Fred for him to be successful. Why not try OG back on the starting unit and put siakim on the bench unit. You can always switch it up during games based on matchups. I am just tired of the lack IQ from Nurse he definitely isn’t the genius people touted him as being, hes closer to being a Jay Triano in my eyes.

I have to agree it's kind of tough now for the bench unit because the starting lineup is all front heavy with Siakam in there now, and now the bench is relatively much weaker without Siakam.

Not sure what is the quick fix. Hopefully when JV returns there is a big overall change, because then they can depend on a big body to pummel smaller lineups on the inside, rather than depend on the bench unit young players who are mostly PG/SG/SF.

But at least NormGod is playing well which is nice. Really need the whole team healthy, it's just so frustrating how JV got injured like that, really took wind out of the sails.

I have noticed that Nurse has been mixing more starter time into the bench to compensate for lower bench performance. I think the time is coming when Nurse has to solidify the starter and bench lineups. Mixing and matching is appropriate at times, but the downside is that it can lead to chaos and chemistry issues.

Most teams mix and match starters with the bench. Moreover, in the playoffs teams usually have an 8 man rotation because starters are playing 40+ minutes a game.

This was one of the things that hurt us last year in the playoffs. While our bench could demolish other teams benches during the season...when we played good teams who played their starters 40+ minutes a night it neutralized the effectiveness of the bench. Casey had to start mix and matching in the playoffs, but we didn't really do any mixing and matching during the season.

Last year was the first time we went with two 5 man units because the bench was just so strong.

[Young_Buc]

Quick observations from the game:

Monroe saps the energy from the bench. He can't defend, can't make shots inside on offense reliably, and now is missing freethrows. I'd try Boucher over him or trade for another guy.

Give credit to Trae Young. He plays like a vet with his hesitation dribble and advanced floaters in the lane. With lob monster Collins, he can really keep a defense off balance. That said, the dribble containment was pretty weak all game long.

Everyone talks about Kawhi having a dominant defensive game, but that was the best I have seen OG play defense. Even in that final sequence where Kawhi stole the ball, OG contained Collins who had to dump the ball off to the perimeter.

Siakam struggles with athletic physical PFs and OG showed some good spirit yesterday guarding multiple players and even making some good decisions on offense late (outside of him dunking the ball instead of running out the clock).

Collins is an absolute monster. That was the first game I paid him attention. Absolute stud.