Summer Runs and Random Player Sightings

[Federalies]

Gots to love that Raps Rookie Swag!

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[C_Money]

Nice, I wonder who else is in Toronto at this point. Looks like Gary Trent is.

Maybe Dragic? Lol jk

[Tor_Raps]

Those Barnes highlights are super impressive man. He's built like Giannis/Lebron at age 20. It's unreal what he can do if he keeping working at it.

[TheRealDeal]

Nice, I wonder who else is in Toronto at this point. Looks like Gary Trent is.

Maybe Dragic? Lol jk

I’m guessing it’s just the unvaccinated ones at this point?

[OhCanada1091]

Pascal's defense is not overrated. He's a big reason why we've been elite on defense. People are just starting to hate on Pascal for no reason at this point.

Agreed. This video does a good job of providing his impressive defensive stats, and showing video examples of that good D in action.

Watch on YouTube

;t=303s

We all know that OG's defence is All-NBA caliber. If Barnes' D can be close to that level and means that Siakam and Fred are the 3rd and 4th best defenders on the team, that's a scary defensive core to build upon. All well above average defenders playing together for an excellent defensive coach in Nurse. The Raptors are going to be hell to play against. The fact that none of them have made an All-Defensive team probably suggests that they're much closer to underrated than overrated.

OK fair enough but back to the root of this one topic here. I don't believe Pascal is suited to guard smaller, quicker guards.

YouTube videos are good and what not. Are you able to dig up some defense stats to prove me wrong? Last I checked, pretty sure they weren't good. Maybe I'm wrong.

What makes you think he's not suited to defend smaller guard? All the stats are amongst the leagues best. He guards PG's very often. When we go 3-2 zone he plays the high man pressuring the ballhandlers.

[LiSTWithLani]

Nice, I wonder who else is in Toronto at this point. Looks like Gary Trent is.

Maybe Dragic? Lol jk

I’m guessing it’s just the unvaccinated ones at this point?

What makes you think that?

Lani@LaniStern.com

[LiSTWithLani]

Pascal's defense is not overrated. He's a big reason why we've been elite on defense. People are just starting to hate on Pascal for no reason at this point.

Agreed. This video does a good job of providing his impressive defensive stats, and showing video examples of that good D in action.

Watch on YouTube

;t=303s

We all know that OG's defence is All-NBA caliber. If Barnes' D can be close to that level and means that Siakam and Fred are the 3rd and 4th best defenders on the team, that's a scary defensive core to build upon. All well above average defenders playing together for an excellent defensive coach in Nurse. The Raptors are going to be hell to play against. The fact that none of them have made an All-Defensive team probably suggests that they're much closer to underrated than overrated.

Nice find on the video!

Folks seem to forget that Siakam is still great on D even though he now needs to expend so much energy on O as the “#1 option”. It’s on the coaching staff to get others involved so Pascal doesn’t need to carry that burden alone. Surrounding him with FVV, GTJ, an ever improving OG and a serviceable C (Birch/Precious) should provide coach with plenty of options.

Definitely agree with you. Our team has much more balance this year and the guys playing smaller roles have a lot more upside in my opinion. It should help alleviate some of the strain on our top guys.

Lani@LaniStern.com

[Ackshun]

Agreed. This video does a good job of providing his impressive defensive stats, and showing video examples of that good D in action.

Watch on YouTube

;t=303s

We all know that OG's defence is All-NBA caliber. If Barnes' D can be close to that level and means that Siakam and Fred are the 3rd and 4th best defenders on the team, that's a scary defensive core to build upon. All well above average defenders playing together for an excellent defensive coach in Nurse. The Raptors are going to be hell to play against. The fact that none of them have made an All-Defensive team probably suggests that they're much closer to underrated than overrated.

OK fair enough but back to the root of this one topic here. I don't believe Pascal is suited to guard smaller, quicker guards.

YouTube videos are good and what not. Are you able to dig up some defense stats to prove me wrong? Last I checked, pretty sure they weren't good. Maybe I'm wrong.

What makes you think he's not suited to defend smaller guard? All the stats are amongst the leagues best. He guards PG's very often. When we go 3-2 zone he plays the high man pressuring the ballhandlers.

Where did you find stats? I had trouble finding a y advanced defensive stats for him.

I agree. He is a problem in a zone défensive scheme. He has enough quickness and serious length in that scenario. I'm more thinking 1 on 1.

[TheRealDeal]

Nice, I wonder who else is in Toronto at this point. Looks like Gary Trent is.

Maybe Dragic? Lol jk

I’m guessing it’s just the unvaccinated ones at this point?

What makes you think that?

Lani@LaniStern.com

Just a hunch bc players don’t usually show up this early. Figured this was some sort of quarantine situation…

Gary Trent Sr. posts a lot anti-vaxx stuff on IG so it’s possible his son is too

Then again idk how that’d work during the season bc they’ll have to be traveling back & forth all the time

[ATLTimekeeper]

I’m guessing it’s just the unvaccinated ones at this point?

What makes you think that?

Lani@LaniStern.com

Just a hunch bc players don’t usually show up this early. Figured this was some sort of quarantine situation…

Gary Trent Sr. posts a lot anti-vaxx stuff on IG so it’s possible his son is too

Then again idk how that’d work during the season bc they’ll have to be traveling back & forth all the time

They're usually in Toronto for early workouts a few weeks before camp. The veterans will show up as late as possible.

[Federalies]

Nothing but good vibes on a Sunday afternoon!

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[djsunyc]

it's a great study in team construction. masai went off script and took a guy he envisions his team to become.

would it be easier to add scoring to a top flight defensive team to jump up levels or

would it be easier to add defense to a top flight offensive team to jump up levels?

[And1Skip]

Yuta is in Toronto today (he said on his IG that he was stuck at Pearson for more than 6 hrs). Him, Scottie and Trent are here early likely bc they need to find homes and that takes time and as we’ve seen before players live in different neighborhoods in the GTA so it’s definitely important for them to choose the area that fits them best.

[gp2015]

Yuta is in Toronto today (he said on his IG that he was stuck at Pearson for more than 6 hrs). Him, Scottie and Trent are here early likely bc they need to find homes and that takes time and as we’ve seen before players live in different neighborhoods in the GTA so it’s definitely important for them to choose the area that fits them best.

Don't they usually just buy/rent condos near downtown? Seems like that's what most of the players do, especially the younger guys without families.

[And1Skip]

Yuta is in Toronto today (he said on his IG that he was stuck at Pearson for more than 6 hrs). Him, Scottie and Trent are here early likely bc they need to find homes and that takes time and as we’ve seen before players live in different neighborhoods in the GTA so it’s definitely important for them to choose the area that fits them best.

Don't they usually just buy/rent condos near downtown? Seems like that's what most of the players do, especially the younger guys without families.

True. Those with families usually live outside of the downtown core though Danny Green lived in Etobicoke area. Some might prefer a house than a condo like Pascal lives in a detached house.

[gp2015]

Yuta is in Toronto today (he said on his IG that he was stuck at Pearson for more than 6 hrs). Him, Scottie and Trent are here early likely bc they need to find homes and that takes time and as we’ve seen before players live in different neighborhoods in the GTA so it’s definitely important for them to choose the area that fits them best.

Don't they usually just buy/rent condos near downtown? Seems like that's what most of the players do, especially the younger guys without families.

True. Those with families usually live outside of the downtown core though Danny Green lived in Etobicoke area. Some might prefer a house than a condo like Pascal lives in a detached house.

Yeah I remember Danny has multiple dogs so he probably needs more space and he's not that young anymore. The younger guys probably don't want the responsibility of owning a house yet and they want to be close to the bars, restaurants etc.

[Federalies]

Yuta is in Toronto today (he said on his IG that he was stuck at Pearson for more than 6 hrs). Him, Scottie and Trent are here early likely bc they need to find homes and that takes time and as we’ve seen before players live in different neighborhoods in the GTA so it’s definitely important for them to choose the area that fits them best.

Ask and you will receive!

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[OhCanada1091]

OK fair enough but back to the root of this one topic here. I don't believe Pascal is suited to guard smaller, quicker guards.

YouTube videos are good and what not. Are you able to dig up some defense stats to prove me wrong? Last I checked, pretty sure they weren't good. Maybe I'm wrong.

What makes you think he's not suited to defend smaller guard? All the stats are amongst the leagues best. He guards PG's very often. When we go 3-2 zone he plays the high man pressuring the ballhandlers.

Where did you find stats? I had trouble finding a y advanced defensive stats for him.

I agree. He is a problem in a zone défensive scheme. He has enough quickness and serious length in that scenario. I'm more thinking 1 on 1.

Watch the video.

[OhCanada1091]

Yuta is in Toronto today (he said on his IG that he was stuck at Pearson for more than 6 hrs). Him, Scottie and Trent are here early likely bc they need to find homes and that takes time and as we’ve seen before players live in different neighborhoods in the GTA so it’s definitely important for them to choose the area that fits them best.

Don't they usually just buy/rent condos near downtown? Seems like that's what most of the players do, especially the younger guys without families.

True. Those with families usually live outside of the downtown core though Danny Green lived in Etobicoke area. Some might prefer a house than a condo like Pascal lives in a detached house.

I'd rather not know where these guys all live. Seems kinda personal lol.

[And1Skip]

Don't they usually just buy/rent condos near downtown? Seems like that's what most of the players do, especially the younger guys without families.

True. Those with families usually live outside of the downtown core though Danny Green lived in Etobicoke area. Some might prefer a house than a condo like Pascal lives in a detached house.

I'd rather not know where these guys all live. Seems kinda personal lol.

Don't try to know as I just can tell from Open Gym and their own social media posts. but regardless...just saying stuff like this is important to a professional sports player and the fact that they are here in Toronto now is a good thing - no more Tampa or wherever. Just like the Jays where you can bump into the players all over downtown Toronto this summer - looks like there will be more Raps sightings to come and means we're getting back to normal