Patrick McCaw Apology Thread

[Gold Dragon]

What I see from McCaw that I believe Nurse values is:
1. speed and lateral agility
2. perimeter defense, chasing 3 point shooters off the line, creating deflections and transition opportunities
3. working in a team structure, creating for teammates, knowing the plays and where he needs to be
4. knowing his role and not trying to go beyond it (unlike RHJ)
5. currently the 3rd best ball handler on the team now that Pascal is injured (he and Davis are close but I think McCaw is slightly ahead)

A lot of people saw that Beal was "blowing by McCaw" but frequently he was actually chasing Beal off the 3pt line and leading him to the help defender who often did not rotate properly (with Gasol being out). He did get caught on a lot of screens which made up a huge portion of Washington's playbook to get Beal his shots but that did improve as the game went on.

Yes he is probably the worst shooter on our team. McCaw's experience as a perimeter defender in help heavy systems and experience as a role player in a ball movement system is what is attractive to Nurse. Sure he is playing more minutes than he should be because we have 3 major rotation players injured. Of the options available, he is the best at allowing Nurse to continue to run the offensive and defensive schemes he wants to run.

[ATLTimekeeper]

I'm not exactly thrilled that Nurse overplays him, either, but the vitriol is over-the-top.

[bluerap23]

I will admit that on the surface as I watch the game, and look at the stats, I question why he is playing so much.

But I also realize, that Nick Nurse is playing him for reasons I probably cannot fully appreciate... and he knows a lot more than me, and just maybe the posters here. For now NN certainly has earned the benefit of the doubt in situations like this.

Coaches love players that don’t make mistakes. McCaw doesn’t make mistakes. The same can not be said for RHJ, TD or Boucher. TD has a much higher ceiling than McCaw but McCaw is way ahead of TD on the stability side.

[Randle McMurphy]

I think he's a fine role player, but Nurse just overvalues him. I also think his defense looks visually better than it actually is, I really think Beal's stats would've been worse if Nurse had RHJ guarding him.

Again, no hate or anger toward McCaw from me but I'd rather see him limited to a 15-20 minute per night role while the team is battling through these injuries and then relegated back to a minimal role if/when everyone is healthy.

Hope he proves us doubters wrong.

Considering the stats show McCaw's defensive numbers to be poor, it definitely looks better than it actually is (although I don't think it looks all that good either).

[Randle McMurphy]

How he got 34 minutes is mind boggling...

No, your post is mind boggling.

it is not. people believing Patrick is actually good, good defensively, solid, not bad, a hard worker, or any combination thereof, is diametrically one of the biggest finesse jobs we've seen in the 21st century. McCaw has almost everyone fooled. but dont be fooled. he trash.

I don't even understand where the myth that the guy is actually good is coming from. This isn't even a guy just starting out. He's literally done nothing in a 4 year NBA career so far.

Like, would anybody ever be saying such a thing about Stanley Johnson (who, for the record, unlike McCaw, has shown himself to be a good NBA defender)?

[LJKO]

Why apologize thou? Like Norm, McCaw is needed on this team when playoffs comes. Seriously hate the fact some people here with so much knowledge but still clueless when comes to trading our proven Playoff Players just to get better for regular season wins smh

[tecumseh18]

No, your post is mind boggling.

it is not. people believing Patrick is actually good, good defensively, solid, not bad, a hard worker, or any combination thereof, is diametrically one of the biggest finesse jobs we've seen in the 21st century. McCaw has almost everyone fooled. but dont be fooled. he trash.

I don't even understand where the myth that the guy is actually good is coming from. This isn't even a guy just starting out. He's literally done nothing in a 4 year NBA career so far.

Like, would anybody ever be saying such a thing about Stanley Johnson (who, for the record, unlike McCaw, has shown himself to be a good NBA defender)?

Looks like McCaw is the new Chris (soon to be HOFer) Bosh - at least in the narrow sense that he gets Randle banned again.

I'm not saying that Nick and Masai are above criticism for their personnel/rotation choices this seas ... hang on, that's exactly what I'm saying!

[will]

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr - what happened to that boyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

[The_Hater]

Kid's a baller. Always knew he had it in him.

How is he a baller exactly? He can’t shoot a lick and nobody comes with 12 feet of him when he’s at the arc. That kills our spacing. He can’t finish at the rim unless he’s all alone. Even last night he scored 11 points, 1 asst and 1 board .... against the worst defensive team in the league while playing 34 minutes. And this makes him a baller? What about the rest of the games these past 2 seasons?

He can play ok defense and he avoids TO’s. That’s the extent of the positives and everything else is a negative or a huge negative. He’s better than Stanley Johnson but that’s not a very high bar in my books.

He’s a fringe NBA player who found a coach that likes him more than he should and is playing minutes for a team that has had a slew of injuries. That’s it.

[EH15]

Not to mention your role players generally tend to always look better when they're on good to great teams. The Warriors made Alfonzo McKinnie look like he may have been a lost gem at one point. The fact that McCaw has essentially been on the 3 greatest teams in the last 3 years and have not really stood out at any point says everything. If this guy was not so lucky and fortunate to enter the league and be put in the absolute best conditions to thrive and succeed, he'd be be struggling to find rotation minutes across the league right about now.

[SFour]

Im not feeling the minutes distribution between McCaw, RHJ, and Davis...last night it was 34, 19, 18... In my opinion 24, 24, 23 is much better and evenly distributed, and depending who has the hot hand they should play more minutes for that specific game.

[The_Hater]

Im not feeling the minutes distribution between McCaw, RHJ, and Davis...last night it was 34, 19, 18... In my opinion 24, 24, 23 is much better and evenly distributed, and depending who has the hot hand they should play more minutes for that specific game.

Davis should be taking more of Mccaw’s minutes for sure but SHJ plays a different position, hard to complain there.

[johanliebert]

Why apologize thou? Like Norm, McCaw is needed on this team when playoffs comes. Seriously hate the fact some people here with so much knowledge but still clueless when comes to trading our proven Playoff Players just to get better for regular season wins smh

How is McCaw a proven playoff player lol.

[The_Hater]

Why apologize thou? Like Norm, McCaw is needed on this team when playoffs comes. Seriously hate the fact some people here with so much knowledge but still clueless when comes to trading our proven Playoff Players just to get better for regular season wins smh

Proven?

The past 2 years McCaw played a grand total of 64 playoff minutes for teams that played 45 total playoff games.

Not exactly sure what you think he was proving in those token minutes.

[Jcity08]

McCaw is a relatively cheap guard coming in at 4mil this year and next year, for a grand total of 8mil salary.

He'd be a useful piece as a trade filler, assuming his value gets raised to a sufficient degree.

[mdenny]

What I see from McCaw that I believe Nurse values is:
1. speed and lateral agility
2. perimeter defense, chasing 3 point shooters off the line, creating deflections and transition opportunities
3. working in a team structure, creating for teammates, knowing the plays and where he needs to be
4. knowing his role and not trying to go beyond it (unlike RHJ)
5. currently the 3rd best ball handler on the team now that Pascal is injured (he and Davis are close but I think McCaw is slightly ahead)

A lot of people saw that Beal was "blowing by McCaw" but frequently he was actually chasing Beal off the 3pt line and leading him to the help defender who often did not rotate properly (with Gasol being out). He did get caught on a lot of screens which made up a huge portion of Washington's playbook to get Beal his shots but that did improve as the game went on.

Yes he is probably the worst shooter on our team. McCaw's experience as a perimeter defender in help heavy systems and experience as a role player in a ball movement system is what is attractive to Nurse. Sure he is playing more minutes than he should be because we have 3 major rotation players injured. Of the options available, he is the best at allowing Nurse to continue to run the offensive and defensive schemes he wants to run.

Great, great post. And yes. McCaw was chasing beal off the 3 point line. Not getting blown by.

[Gold Dragon]

Im not feeling the minutes distribution between McCaw, RHJ, and Davis...last night it was 34, 19, 18... In my opinion 24, 24, 23 is much better and evenly distributed, and depending who has the hot hand they should play more minutes for that specific game.

This is the main reason for all the McCaw hate. Lots of folks have their favourite bench player and like what they see from that player over McCaw. Usually it is scoring or box score stats or flashy plays.

But nurse likes McCaw for things that people can’t really see because it is not obvious. It is things that don’t involve scoring or make it to the box score and are not flashy. Things like positioning, funneling players to help defenders, playing within his role.

The reason he gets minutes over RHJ is primarily because McCaw stays within his role and the team system while RHJ seems to be playing for his next contract and often the ball is sticking to him more than it should for a player with his offensive skill set. He is also a better ball handler and play maker than RHJ but RHJ is pretty good at those for a 3/4.

The reason he gets minutes over Davis is because of experience and familiarity with our systems. Davis is a better player than McCaw but is still learning the game. Everyone rushing to give him minutes may be doing him a disservice.

Our team is one of the best in the league at developing young players and they know they have a good one in Davis. His minutes distribution is with his long term development in mind. I think by limiting his minutes and responsibilities in his first year, you allow him the opportunity to focus his learning and mastery of the “little things” in the game that often get overlooked when you throw too much at a young player right away in his career. They are giving him regular minutes and a consistent role and allowing it to expand organically instead of forcing it on him.

[ItsDanger]

What I see from McCaw that I believe Nurse values is:
1. speed and lateral agility
2. perimeter defense, chasing 3 point shooters off the line, creating deflections and transition opportunities
3. working in a team structure, creating for teammates, knowing the plays and where he needs to be
4. knowing his role and not trying to go beyond it (unlike RHJ)
5. currently the 3rd best ball handler on the team now that Pascal is injured (he and Davis are close but I think McCaw is slightly ahead)

A lot of people saw that Beal was "blowing by McCaw" but frequently he was actually chasing Beal off the 3pt line and leading him to the help defender who often did not rotate properly (with Gasol being out). He did get caught on a lot of screens which made up a huge portion of Washington's playbook to get Beal his shots but that did improve as the game went on.

Yes he is probably the worst shooter on our team. McCaw's experience as a perimeter defender in help heavy systems and experience as a role player in a ball movement system is what is attractive to Nurse. Sure he is playing more minutes than he should be because we have 3 major rotation players injured. Of the options available, he is the best at allowing Nurse to continue to run the offensive and defensive schemes he wants to run.

Great, great post. And yes. McCaw was chasing beal off the 3 point line. Not getting blown by.

Just so posters know, a player running somebody off the line is almost certainly under coach's orders. Now that could be to compensate for that player's inadequate defense or that it's playing the percentages vs that player. I would also force Beal to drive and take my chances, he's too good a shooter even from college days.

[Gold Dragon]

What I see from McCaw that I believe Nurse values is:
1. speed and lateral agility
2. perimeter defense, chasing 3 point shooters off the line, creating deflections and transition opportunities
3. working in a team structure, creating for teammates, knowing the plays and where he needs to be
4. knowing his role and not trying to go beyond it (unlike RHJ)
5. currently the 3rd best ball handler on the team now that Pascal is injured (he and Davis are close but I think McCaw is slightly ahead)

A lot of people saw that Beal was "blowing by McCaw" but frequently he was actually chasing Beal off the 3pt line and leading him to the help defender who often did not rotate properly (with Gasol being out). He did get caught on a lot of screens which made up a huge portion of Washington's playbook to get Beal his shots but that did improve as the game went on.

Yes he is probably the worst shooter on our team. McCaw's experience as a perimeter defender in help heavy systems and experience as a role player in a ball movement system is what is attractive to Nurse. Sure he is playing more minutes than he should be because we have 3 major rotation players injured. Of the options available, he is the best at allowing Nurse to continue to run the offensive and defensive schemes he wants to run.

Great, great post. And yes. McCaw was chasing beal off the 3 point line. Not getting blown by.

Just so posters know, a player running somebody off the line is almost certainly under coach's orders. Now that could be to compensate for that player's inadequate defense or that it's playing the percentages vs that player. I would also force Beal to drive and take my chances, he's too good a shooter even from college days.

Running 3pt shooters off the line and funneling them to help is a core part of our team’s defense for the last few years. McCaw is one of the better guys at executing this.

McCaw is also a very good at “staying in front” of players with his lateral quicks when asked to do that. The Washington game he was not because Wall was not playing. His assignment would have been different if he was put on wall.

[2019nbachamps]

Unfortunately Nurse has his favourites no matter how they are playing or what the stats say.

Sometimes it works out. FVV and Powell have had awful stretches since he became coach but both have proved their worth.

Then there are occasions where a player has cart blanche or Nurse goes with rotations that make no sense.

The over-use of McCaw is mind-boggling. We already have certain guys that struggle offensively (e.g., Gasol, RHJ, OG at times). Having McCaw out there adds another offensively liability since he can't do much on that end of the floor and has no confidence in his shot. Defensively he is not that much better than the guys he is currently ahead of on the depth chart. Almost everyone on this Raptors team can defend, so his ability on that end of the court is not unique.

Given he has "playoff experience", is young, and has a manageable contract I expect the Raptors to trade him as part of a package that sees us offloading one of our expiring deals.