PG: The Scottie Barnes Experience

[durka]

Couldn't watch the game too closely last night, but the parts I did watch had me feeling real good and had me taking away a few things.

Literally couldn't look away from Scottie. I know it's just preseason game #1, but being that this was the first game in almost 2 years in Toronto and fans were in the arena, it had more meaning than that. Him showing out like that in a high energy situation like this says a lot about the kid. His passing is way better than I thought it would be out the gate. If this kid can get a reliable jumper he's a star.

Was also very impressed Precisous. I admittedly haven't watched much of him, but was under the impression he'd just be an energy big. Was surprised to see him bringing the ball up court and having a smooth midrange game. He might get a bit exposed by bigger C's like Drummond, but we got a good one in him.

Seeing Dragic in a Raps jersey makes me sick, but I begrudgingly can admit that he helps fill the void of Lowry. He's got a lot of overlapping strengths, even though he's a complete rat and obviously not as good. Seeing him with Scottie on the bench, it seems like he'll at least be a professional and a steady vet presence until Masai can get him to a contender.

OG looks like he could take another step in his game. Crazy seeing him and Fred as the leaders of the team now. It truly is a new era of Raptors ball, even if we might not get as many wins as we're used to it's going to be a fun season.

[everdiso]

We don't need to trash Suggs to boost up Scottie. Let's just stick to being happy with who we have.

The comparison is inevitable, especially since the entire basketball world thinks Suggs was the better pick and hasn't been shy about saying it all summer.

Not sure why we have to be quiet about Barnes outplaying him.

What's more fun is that if this is what Barnes is going to look like this year then we'll be gladly comparing him to all of Cade Green and Mobley too.

[Hero_Panda]

I couldn't tell if the person wearing the number 4 jersey was Scottie Barnes or Andrei Kirilenko.

And OG with 21 pts on 12 shots?

[HumbleRen]

Anyone else notice when Barnes trolled the other team on a fast break, waiting for them to come close before dunking it? I love it but I also noticed Fvv SmH at him.

I'm liking Fvv as our leader I was trying to see if he talks to him but I'm assuming Nurse may have benched him because of that for a few mins. It's probably not the type of image we want as a team, I don't mind it so long as we back it up like a Lebron would.

Gotta nip that in the bud lol. It's some AAU ****.

[WuTang_CMB]

https://www.reddit.com/r/torontoraptors/comments/q1p0rd/masais_long_boi_plan_already_putting_the_fear/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf


Doc rivers already admitting our length too much for them

[Backcountry]

My takes from last night, trying to keep in mind it was just the first preseason game, and Philly was missing important parts of its offence:

The "long" lineup was a beautiful thing to watch, and definitely plays havoc with opposing teams offences. Switching is meaningless, mismatches don't happen.

We look still somewhat susceptible to a true, big centre, but the swarming long arms should frustrate them. Remains to be seen how effective this will be against a couple of bigs (i.e. Drummond + Embiid simultaneously.) Can't see this happening much, though.

Scottie. What can you say? Everything we'd hoped he'd be. Energy, IQ, compete level all top notch.

Flynn and FVV actually seemed to be a bit of a defensive liability out there compared to the longer lineup. Philly was able to exploit the mismatch on them. Dragic was steady if unspectacular, no mistakes.

Freddie G really looked lost. Still has the energy, but didn't look any better than during SL, and doesn't appear to have progressed at all since last season. He lost his man, got confused by cuts and switches. Not looking good for him.

Svi was fantastic. Poised, smart, great IQ, plus he has the length part of the equation.

Banton seems very comfortable out there. Made a couple of rushed passes that were picked off but all-in-all a great performance.

Precious is precious. He's the keeper part of the Lowry S&T.

Champagnie was also very composed, played well, hit his shots. Liked his game a lot.

Yuta also was steady. Nice shots, nice D. Great energy. Knows the system.

Johnson didn't impress me that much. Didn't play a whole lot, but he looks small compared to the "long" lineup.

Bonga also didn't really stand out. Good ball-handling skills, though. Not sure if he fits yet. Needs more minutes next game.

Dekker & Wainwright didn't really get enough time to determine anything, but neither stood out in the couple of minutes they played. Will give them the benefit of the doubt for now.

All in all, a great start, fun to watch, and I just feel better today knowing the season is almost here...

[right between the eyes]

So only half capacity was let in as they said 9900 were they which is exactly half? Will this be changed for opening night?

[lobosloboslobos]

Kyle Lowry with a tidy 7 assists in 15 minutes last night. Can't wait til we meet the Heat in the ECF.

[Gold Dragon]

Very impressed with Scottie, Delano, Svi, Pecious and Yuta this game.

I didn't expect Banton to be a rotation player this year but I feel he has made some pretty big jumps in his game already and I would not be surprised if he makes the rotation some time in the 2nd half.

Svi was very impressive with his play making and ball handling, two things I did not expect.

Precious and Yuta making some really big shots and showing assertiveness on offense.

I guess we really need to see them against starting quality defenders but overall a very impressive showing.

Defensively we have the right talent and mindsets. We just need everyone to get on the same page and this team is going to be pretty deadly on D.

[gp2015]

Yep. Most people are quick to point to our final record last season and how we lost the GROAT without looking at all of the facts.

First of all, we were much better than our record last season indicated. Before we blatantly tanked the last few weeks of the season, we had the NetRTG and expected W/L record of a .500 team -- and that was after all of the injuries, key man games lost due to COVID protocols and a brutal 1-13 stretch.

Second, our overall roster is significantly better this year. Achiuwa + Birch > Baynes + Len, Barnes + Svi + (new and improved) Yuta > Bembry + Johnson + Thomas/Davis and we have much more depth beyond that now (Banton, Champagnie and Wainright all look like they can contribute at some point this season) too. A good chunk of our roster is very young with lots of room to grow (GTJ, Flynn, OG) while Siakam (and FVV post-COVID) is coming off a tough season with lots of ups and downs. Losing Lowry and Powell will hurt a bit, but Dragic and GTJ give us very similar production (just without the efficiency of Powell) while we're clearly better everywhere else.

Third, and maybe most importantly, we won't be practicing in a ballroom and playing on the road all year this time. It seems like a lot of people are severely underestimating how much of an obstacle it was to play all 72 games away from home (where we have won about 65% of games for the past decade), especially early in the season when they were getting booed/actively cheered against by their "home" fans.

I see us as a .500 team this season with the potential to win 45-50 games if OG takes a bit of a leap, Siakam has a bit of a bounce-back year (and he was already solid last year averaging 21/7/5) and Barnes proves to be a solid rotation piece in his rookie season (which I already think he will because he has such a high impact in every game he has played for us but the one SL game against the Warriors IIRC). People that think we'll win 25-30 games and be in the hunt for a top 5 pick without significant injuries/another COVID shutdown are off their rockers lol.

I think you're off you're rocker if you think this team as it is right now has potential to win 45-50 games.

Our defense will be solid no doubt but people forget how much we struggled on offense last year. That's only going to get worse without Lowry's scoring and playmaking. FVV is not a great creator for others at this point.

Plus, it's very clear that our mandate is to develop our young players. Sure, we can play Dragic more minutes and win a few more games but that's not what we're trying to do this year. Making the playoffs is not our priority right now. We're going to sacrifice wins for long term development.

I don't see our team getting significantly better until we get a real #1 option and then Siakam can go back to his strength of being the #2/3.

My guess is we will end up with ~30 something wins.

I agree with you, but 30 wins is too low for the amount of depth we have. I have us at 38-40 wins.

I didn't actually mean 30 wins, I meant thirty something. I would guess somewhere around 35.

TBH I don't even really care about the win totals. People are far too concerned about win totals, especially when it's a rebuilding year.

This will be a fun team to watch and I'm looking forward to watching the young guys develop.

[bape_lovers]

Kyle always need good bigs to play with..he went from post prime Marc/Serge to useless Baynes/Len..back to All Star Bam

Kyle Lowry with a tidy 7 assists in 15 minutes last night. Can't wait til we meet the Heat in the ECF.

[Lord_Zedd]

https://www.reddit.com/r/torontoraptors/comments/q1p0rd/masais_long_boi_plan_already_putting_the_fear/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf


Doc rivers already admitting our length too much for them

RIP Ben Simmons returning to the 76ers

[ParadoxJ]

This Team is so fun to watch, the energy and hustle. I’m exhausted and I’m not the one playing.

Banton a damn roadrunner, Scottie is all over the place on D.

[Vorticity]

getting strong Bench Mob vibes from this 2nd unit, i think they are going to win us games with their disruptive style of defence, length and athleticism like Pascal/Norm/Fred did back in the day.

[OAKLEY_2]

Fran Fraschilla was really high on Champagnie dude compared him to PJ Tucker. I feel like him and Yuta will make the roster. Darkhorse Bonga

Sadly I think Bonga and Ish are sent packing because of Svi. Not sure what awaits Dekker or Freddie 2 but I think Freddie 2 will make it.

[OAKLEY_2]

My takes from last night, trying to keep in mind it was just the first preseason game, and Philly was missing important parts of its offence:

The "long" lineup was a beautiful thing to watch, and definitely plays havoc with opposing teams offences. Switching is meaningless, mismatches don't happen.

We look still somewhat susceptible to a true, big centre, but the swarming long arms should frustrate them. Remains to be seen how effective this will be against a couple of bigs (i.e. Drummond + Embiid simultaneously.) Can't see this happening much, though.

Scottie. What can you say? Everything we'd hoped he'd be. Energy, IQ, compete level all top notch.

Flynn and FVV actually seemed to be a bit of a defensive liability out there compared to the longer lineup. Philly was able to exploit the mismatch on them. Dragic was steady if unspectacular, no mistakes.

Freddie G really looked lost. Still has the energy, but didn't look any better than during SL, and doesn't appear to have progressed at all since last season. He lost his man, got confused by cuts and switches. Not looking good for him.

Svi was fantastic. Poised, smart, great IQ, plus he has the length part of the equation.

Banton seems very comfortable out there. Made a couple of rushed passes that were picked off but all-in-all a great performance.

Precious is precious. He's the keeper part of the Lowry S&T.

Champagnie was also very composed, played well, hit his shots. Liked his game a lot.

Yuta also was steady. Nice shots, nice D. Great energy. Knows the system.

Johnson didn't impress me that much. Didn't play a whole lot, but he looks small compared to the "long" lineup.

Bonga also didn't really stand out. Good ball-handling skills, though. Not sure if he fits yet. Needs more minutes next game.

Dekker & Wainwright didn't really get enough time to determine anything, but neither stood out in the couple of minutes they played. Will give them the benefit of the doubt for now.

All in all, a great start, fun to watch, and I just feel better today knowing the season is almost here...

Freddie G looked better than in Vegas. Who else is going to be the third string Centre? Answer is nobody. Freddie2 has to stop panicking out there like every touch is his career.

[OAKLEY_2]

Champagnie gives MAJOR pause for thought. Him and Svi were assertive offensively.

[ItsDanger]

Anyone else notice when Barnes trolled the other team on a fast break, waiting for them to come close before dunking it? I love it but I also noticed Fvv SmH at him.

I'm liking Fvv as our leader I was trying to see if he talks to him but I'm assuming Nurse may have benched him because of that for a few mins. It's probably not the type of image we want as a team, I don't mind it so long as we back it up like a Lebron would.

Gotta nip that in the bud lol. It's some AAU ****.

Scottie always does that. Its either this or trying to draw easy foul. I suspect the latter but I could see why many would assume the former.

[ontnut]

still thinking about it the day after

Read on Twitter

That pass is the type of pass I want to drunk dial at 3am on a thursday.

[Dennis 37]

Not sure why people emphasize the missing Sixers players. Did anyone mention that Pascal, Gary, and Chris were not available for our side? Whether or not that equals the talent of the missing Sixers players, it does not guarantee the SIxers a win if all of each team's players were out there.