Uncle perk still riding with Toronto

[Vorticity]

No-Kawhi Raptors had the best regular season winning percentage in the league last year.

I still think we'll win close to 50 games though.

i dunno, that means Kawhi + Danny Green were worth 8 extra wins?

i think 47 Wins is probably our ceiling, but we'll see, Raptors always surprise everyone

[vctmac]

I thought we were talking about Uncle Dennis at first, name checks out.

[Tor_Raps]

I'd actually put us 4th in the East behind Boston. In a wing driven league, we're just too weak in those spots. I want to believe OG will break out this season but I'm a bit skeptical.

Also, I think Philly is easily the best team in the East. Bucks losing Brogdan was a massive hit. A motivated Embiid and Simmons with their learning curve should be enough to put them there. I want to see how they close games offensively but if they can sort that out, I'd bet on them winning it all. Come playoff time when the game slows down, their massive lineup will bully teams while still being quick enough to hang with any team.

Philly will have to show me they have the outside shooting, as well as backcourt ball handling. They lost Butler and Reddick and picked up Josh Richardson and Al Horford. So are they stronger, weaker or unchanged as an outside shooting team? If teams feel comfortable collapsing on them, then their interior advantage is reduced. Also, is Simmons really a good substitute for a quality point guard?

I agree, there are some questions to see how everything will fit. In an era where everyone is going small, they are going totally to the other extreme. I actually think it can work but outside shooting and a crunch time closer are their biggest question marks.

[Semanticist]

We're going to surprise a lot of people this season. That's all I'm going to say.

[Metallikid]

Portland is insanely overrated, they're the poster child of a mediocre squad for a half decade

100%

if a lineup of Lillard/McCollum/Matthews/Batum/Aldridge couldn't do it then how are they going to now?

[Roco14]

Portland is insanely overrated, they're the poster child of a mediocre squad for a half decade

100%

if a lineup of Lillard/McCollum/Matthews/Batum/Aldridge couldn't do it then how are they going to now?

Well, if we're being fair McCollum at that time was nowhere near the level he's at now and Lillard also wasn't as lethal as he is today, some would classify him as a superstar now. But I get what you're saying.

It is weird to say that a 6 seed is overrated tho, that's where they've been for the last couple of years and where they'll probably end up again (6-8)

[macNcheese3]

nice to get some recognition even with Leonard out

[Basketball_Jones]

Siakam is going to play small forward so we are strong on the wing

[mieshpal]

Lakers lol we shall see. Dont see them being the best team in the league

[GreatWhiteStiff]

Siakam is going to play small forward so we are strong on the wing

[Scott Hall]

I saw on NBA TV Dennis Scott didn't have us making the playoffs and Sam Mitchell picked us 8th and had Atlanta
higher then us (6th)

It's absolutely unbelievable how brain dead so many of these analysts are after last year I lost respect for about 90%
of them. There's hardly anybody in the media who's opinion actually matters. Most of them don't watch enough games
or teams to know what they're talking about and others are just about hot takes to get people to pay attention to them.

[Oakville_Raptor]

I saw on NBA TV Dennis Scott didn't have us making the playoffs and Sam Mitchell picked us 8th and had Atlanta
higher then us (6th)

It's absolutely unbelievable how brain dead so many of these analysts are after last year I lost respect for about 90%
of them. There's hardly anybody in the media who's opinion actually matters. Most of them don't watch enough games
or teams to know what they're talking about and others are just about hot takes to get people to pay attention to them.

That's kind of a surprising prediction from Smitch seeing as how he still works for TSN from time to time.

[Scott Hall]

I saw on NBA TV Dennis Scott didn't have us making the playoffs and Sam Mitchell picked us 8th and had Atlanta
higher then us (6th)

It's absolutely unbelievable how brain dead so many of these analysts are after last year I lost respect for about 90%
of them. There's hardly anybody in the media who's opinion actually matters. Most of them don't watch enough games
or teams to know what they're talking about and others are just about hot takes to get people to pay attention to them.

That's kind of a surprising prediction from Smitch seeing as how he still works for TSN from time to time.

Yeah usually Sam is an over the top homer for us I think he picked us to beat Lebron each time lol

[RaptorsNorth]

Who the hell is uncle perk boy kawhi and his uncle have done a number on this fan base.

[XxIronChainzxX]

Who the hell is uncle perk boy kawhi and his uncle have done a number on this fan base.

?

It's Perkins. This was a meme during the title run.

[2019nbachamps]

I saw on NBA TV Dennis Scott didn't have us making the playoffs and Sam Mitchell picked us 8th and had Atlanta
higher then us (6th)

It's absolutely unbelievable how brain dead so many of these analysts are after last year I lost respect for about 90%
of them. There's hardly anybody in the media who's opinion actually matters. Most of them don't watch enough games
or teams to know what they're talking about and others are just about hot takes to get people to pay attention to them.

I think this board is seriously overrating us this season. We've got a lot of things going against us. Title hangover (players taking longer to get into game shape such as Lowry), potential loss of motivation, huge holes at the 2 and 3, and no player capable of creating his own shot like Kawhi could. Also, a lot of the assumptions here are based on us going the entire season healthy. An injury to any one of our main guys would be devastating since we aren't very deep. We have the hallmarks of a 42-48 win team in my opinion. Regardless of what happens we'll easily make the playoffs though. To me, the win total isn't that important. I care more about Siakam's development, seeing which of our young guys could prove serviceable in the future, and seeing what Masai does with the expiring contracts. Our upside this season is the 2nd round of the playoffs.

[OAKLEY_2]

No-Kawhi Raptors had the best regular season winning percentage in the league last year.

I still think we'll win close to 50 games though.

i dunno, that means Kawhi + Danny Green were worth 8 extra wins?

i think 47 Wins is probably our ceiling, but we'll see, Raptors always surprise everyone

If they pounce on the easy teams this team will win 50.

[OAKLEY_2]

I saw on NBA TV Dennis Scott didn't have us making the playoffs and Sam Mitchell picked us 8th and had Atlanta
higher then us (6th)

It's absolutely unbelievable how brain dead so many of these analysts are after last year I lost respect for about 90%
of them. There's hardly anybody in the media who's opinion actually matters. Most of them don't watch enough games
or teams to know what they're talking about and others are just about hot takes to get people to pay attention to them.

I think this board is seriously overrating us this season. We've got a lot of things going against us. Title hangover (players taking longer to get into game shape such as Lowry), potential loss of motivation, huge holes at the 2 and 3, and no player capable of creating his own shot like Kawhi could. Also, a lot of the assumptions here are based on us going the entire season healthy. An injury to any one of our main guys would be devastating since we aren't very deep. We have the hallmarks of a 42-48 win team in my opinion. Regardless of what happens we'll easily make the playoffs though. To me, the win total isn't that important. I care more about Siakam's development, seeing which of our young guys could prove serviceable in the future, and seeing what Masai does with the expiring contracts. Our upside this season is the 2nd round of the playoffs.

On the other hand Fred looks poised to be the Danny Green load and shoot threes guy. Could see Fred easily replacing Green offensively. If Lowry rounds into form after the marathon last year he Fred and Davis look like a solid guard trio. Gasol really improved this team and Serge in the playoffs was a revelation. Behind that obvious centre depth are some bigs never in an NBA rotation so that will be interesting to see if we have a Bebe in their wthout off court issues. There are more than a few weapons offensively and we have to assume defence will be their bread and butter. Would 48 wins be a surprise? No. Either would 52-54. Who replaces number 2? Nobody. Obviously. San Antonio went 7 games in the playoffs in the West post Kawhi and for my money we are are better than that team meaning worst case scenario is two rounds in the east. When a team wins a title all the players not named Kahwi deserve a lot more respect. Paskal made Draymond Green look completely human. We are definitely under hyped.

[will]

Uncle Perk!

[tor1234567]

Portland is insanely overrated, they're the poster child of a mediocre squad for a half decade

Portland are the 2016 Raptors.

They made it to the conference finals, but any playoff team could knock them out.

They'll fall back down to Earth and probably get bounced in the first round in next year's playoffs.