Wow, it looks like he is playing free this season and even paying $1.1M just to play this season. Bennett promised to pay back $2M to Minnesota and he only signed $900K. I'll say he'll be motivated to play well this season as he is showcasing himself for the next few years. If he doesn't play well this season, he'll be done forever. I don't mind this signing. It is a win-win situation for the Raptors.
Lamar has had a pretty rough life if you've heard much about his story. Rumours are he had a problem with crack in the last few years since getting out of the NBA, and he's always had problems with depression. Doesn't sound like it's going to end well unfortunately.
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Flip Saunders, who tallied more than 1,000 victories over a 35-year coaching career that included successful stops with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Detroit Pistons, died Sunday of cancer at the age of 60.
He also coached the Washington Wizards during a career that spanned 17 seasons as an NBA head coach and included 654 victories.
Saunders announced in August that he was being treated for Hodgkin lymphoma. Doctors considered it "very treatable and curable," and Saunders at the time said he planned to remain the Timberwolves' head coach and president of basketball operations. However, after being hospitalized following a setback in September, it was announced Friday that Saunders would miss the entire 2015-16 season.
Well the season begins for the Raptors with I believe 11 of the first 15 on the road. They don't have the scoring they did last year to just run and gun for wins. Puts a whole lot of pressure on the defense to be good. They have added defensive minded players but there will have to be a real level of buy in.
Will they be be able to adapt?
I can see them staying in games thanks to better defense and then losing them because they don't have a clutch scorer. But hey it's the East / they have all season to get it right / they will be in the playoff picture for sure unless they implode bigtime.
Steph Curry has 24 points...at the end of the first quarter. If anyone is ever getting 100 again he seems like the most likely candidate cause almost no one has ever been able to get as hot as he can.
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Steph Curry has 24 points...at the end of the first quarter. If anyone is ever getting 100 again he seems like the most likely candidate cause almost no one has ever been able to get as hot as he can.
Klay Thompson sees the 24 points in a quarter and raises you another 13 points in a quarter.
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Wasn't Dwayne Casey brought to Toronto for his defence? They've been Terrible defensively every year he's been there and appear to be getting worse year over year.
Wasn't Dwayne Casey brought to Toronto for his defence? They've been Terrible defensively every year he's been there and appear to be getting worse year over year.
Casey doesn't do anything well, I'm not really sure why he's back for this season.
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Wasn't Dwayne Casey brought to Toronto for his defence? They've been Terrible defensively every year he's been there and appear to be getting worse year over year.
I don't think he is a great coach but he has been stuck with Derozan. Lowry and Valcunias for most of his time here. I am not sure Tibs could get those 3 to play even mediocre defense. Throw in Ross paying attention about 10% of the time and Amir with no knees and it wasn't much to work with.
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I don't think he is a great coach but he has been stuck with Derozan. Lowry and Valcunias for most of his time here. I am not sure Tibs could get those 3 to play even mediocre defense. Throw in Ross paying attention about 10% of the time and Amir with no knees and it wasn't much to work with.
Lowry and JV aren't bad defensively.
Casey has much more defensive minded players now in Carroll, Biyombo, and Joseph. We'll see if Casey can create a defensive unit now.
Wow, we've really come alive here in the second half!
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Tie game with 2 mins left. Raptors have had good stretches in the game. I like the big men and diversity in how they play. But that interior defence needs some work.
Casey has much more defensive minded players now in Carroll, Biyombo, and Joseph. We'll see if Casey can create a defensive unit now.
Wow, we've really come alive here in the second half!
I think Lowry can be ok in spurts but overall is a weak defender especially against faster Pg's.
I don't think Valcunias is very good at all. He doesn't seem to have a high IQ defensively and is really bad at helping with other guys. I guess he has the size and strength that he is ok one on one with other centers.
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2-0 start for the Raps. Carroll looks strong so far. Also crazy game in Orlando, OKC rallies from 18 down in the 4th with the Westbrook buzzer beating 3 for OT, and then Oladipo hits a buzzer beating 3 to force 2OT. Durant and Westbrook both with 40+.
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Last edited by Senator Clay Davis; 10-30-2015 at 08:06 PM.
I think Lowry can be ok in spurts but overall is a weak defender especially against faster Pg's.
I don't think Valcunias is very good at all. He doesn't seem to have a high IQ defensively and is really bad at helping with other guys. I guess he has the size and strength that he is ok one on one with other centers.
I don't read JV that way at all.
I think he's been instructed to do nothing but plug holes. He isn't being allowed to think the game, and instead is being turned into a robot. I wonder if language is part of it.
I see it happening at both ends of the Court. The two guards are accountable to no one and given free reign to do whatever they want, and then everyone is supposed to back them up defensively without having a clue what they will do next.
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The new defensive setup (which doesn't seem that radical, just not funnelling guys toward the basket like last year) seems to be working much better. But we'll see what happens against good teams. Nonetheless, I really like the mix of players on the team right now, almost everywhere except starting PF. Scola's the best fit for that role right now, but it's unquestionably the weak link on the team. I'm glad that Ross is showing signs of embracing his role off the bench, because he's really got a great skillset for a sixth man, but his head has kept him from excelling there.
I've seen some plays this year on offense that I absolutely love, and I just hope that they're actually part of the offense, rather than just guys improving before Casey's playbook gets implemented. In particular, the DD / JV pick-and-roll with Lowry and Carroll floor-spacing is something I'd like to see a lot more of.
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