Raptors 2014-2015 season

[St. Pats]

Might as well get the Raptors season thread started. DD/Val both had a good FIBA championship. Everybody brought back. JJ added for some defense. Should be good enough to make the playoffs again.

Goal : Get out of the first round.

[DOOM]

As a casual Raptors fan what are the expectations for this year? I know they lost in the first round last year.

Did they lose any key free agents?

[The Big Chill]

Expectations are to make playoffs, and as St. Pats said, the goal is probably to win a round.

The team will pretty much be the same as last season, and the East should be pretty weak again.

[Da_Chief]

The big news was re-signing of Kyle Lowry. Hopefully last year wasn't just a contract year performance from him. DeRozen should be flying of the bat as he was with Team USA for FIBA.

JV needs to take another step this year and become one of the best C in the East.

I think winning a round will be minimum. Winning the division is also important.

Pretty much growth from everyone is what the expectations are.

[octothorp]

Much better bench this year. Lou Williams, James Johnson, and Steisma all address what we're big areas of weakness on the bench last year, and should compliment Patterson and Vasquez for one of the better second units in the east. I don't think they're necessarily going to get further than last year, but to me it's about internal growth before next summer when they've got a huge chunk of expirings.

[Wastedyouth]

Never having to see John Salmons in a Raps uniform again already made my season.

[killer_carlson]

JV's development will be interesting to watch.

If KL and DD move the ball inside, their games will open up. I'm not sure if they have the attitudes to pull it off though. That's the key to me for the Raptors this season. If they trust in JV enough to give him touches inside and run plays for then the perimeter game will open up. If they play it like last year and most of JV's touches are putbacks at the rim or dump offs at the rim, then the team is stuck in status quo.

Mind you, this falls upon Casey as much as it does KL and DD.

THe other item I want to see is the development of Casey's half time adjustments. I don't know how often in the last 2 years we would see the team blow a big lead or bet blown out in the 3rd quarter. Other teams seem more adept at half time adjustments than the Raptors do, and that one falls squarely on Casey.

[St. Pats]

The bench is better because they added both scoring and defensive match ups that they lacked. That cost them the first round series. To me though this team, sorry DD, goes as far as their best player carries them. Lowry needs to lead them on O and D and most importantly attitude wise for them to go anywhere. He is the one guy they can't afford to have a major injury.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by St. Pats

The bench is better because they added both scoring and defensive match ups that they lacked. That cost them the first round series. To me though this team, sorry DD, goes as far as their best player carries them. Lowry needs to lead them on O and D and most importantly attitude wise for them to go anywhere. He is the one guy they can't afford to have a major injury.

And injury is a big factor, especially when we're talking about comparisons to last year; I believe the Raptors lost the fewest starters to injury last year out of any team. And part of that goes to having one of the best athletic therapists in pro sports, but even so, last year was an aberration. Chances are, they'll need to go for significant stretches missing one or more starters this year. And yeah, I totally agree that Lowry is the one guy they can't lose to injury.

I liked what they were doing on offense towards the end of last year: the play calls were actually pretty good, but the ball-handlers weren't always making the best decisions; plays tended to end a pass or two earlier than they should have.

My keys for the season:
1. Lowry stays healthy and continues to play as he did last year.
2. DeRozan improves his defensive play and his passing. He proved me wrong last year, because I kept saying that I doubted his offensive game would translate to the playoffs. But it did in a big way.
3. Ross needs to take that next step and become a .420 3pt shooter, which I think he can do. He needs to get physically stronger for his defensive game to improve.
4. Amir Johnson needs to spend less time playing hurt. I've got no problem with his game when he's at full health.
5. JV needs to work on his hands and bring down the turnovers. He fumbles too many passes which makes his guards cautious about passing to him.

6. Vasquez does a great job at his role, but could bring a little more on defense through better positioning.
7. Williams needs to find a balance in being the second-unit scorer, but not getting tunnel vision (like previous Raptors bench-scorers such as Alan Anderson or John Lucas).
8. James Johnson needs to be the guy he was with Memphis, not the guy he was with Toronto first-time round. Know your role.
9. Patterson's game is great, and I want him to challenge Amir for the starter spot. His shooting and defense against stretch forwards make him an extremely valuable player.
10. Steisma needs to give good minutes against legit bigs.

11. Brazillians need to learn, soak up everything they can, and not get discouraged with a lack of minutes.

12. Fields, Hayes, and Hansbrough need to be good teammates in practice, and stay healthy. I think their only real value is as expirings, which, when combined with Williams and Amir, come out to nearly 30 million in expirings for next summer.



Cherry and Hamilton aren't included because I doubt either makes the team. Right now, the above guys count for 15 spots, so there's no room for anyone else unless someone is cut or traded. I believe Steisma's contract is not fully guaranteed either so he could be cut, but to me he's more important than Cherry or Hamilton. We could see Fields/Hayes/Hansbrough traded before the season begins for future picks or for nothing, to make room for these guys.

[Hockey_Ninja]

Very interested to see what Jonas does this year. He was good in the playoffs.

[Senator Clay Davis]

I think the Raptors are the 3rd best team in the East and become 2nd if Derrick Rose is in fact the RGIII of basketball (or is RGIII the Derrick Rose of football?). Their record after trading Rudy Gay last year prorated to 54-28 so that's a borderline top 5 team in the NBA record wise. Roster appears even better this year. Biggest thing obviously is Jonas, if the Raps can finally start getting him more touches to further his development. Hopefully Lowry and DeRozan can sacrifice a few shots (and ideally shoot a better percentage) to get Jonas the ball more. If they can this team could be very, very good.

[OzSome]

The reason for the Raptors success after Rudy Gay was they were playing as a team. They don't have a player with the ME-first attitude or don't rely on one player to make the difference. On paper it doesn't look like the Raptors can win a lot of games but I think with extra experience on the young guys like JV, Terrence Ross, Derozan and Lowry the team can improve from last season. I think their bench players are much better than last season. It'll be interesting season for sure.

[bluejays]

I personally think the limit has been reached for the most part with these players aside from really JV, who still has pretty good upside. This year I think he'll be more or less the same. I'm just as interested to see how Ross will do. He's shown that he's pretty fragile mentally, and so I hope someone worked on getting him some more confidence. It's a weak East, and the team plays as one which will work in their favor, but I don't think this is a quarter final team.

[St. Pats]

A lot of games last year the starting five was treading water and the bench came in and got them rolling. I see more of the same this year with Williams and JJ added to the group. Then the starting five would return and often just take up the charge. I'm looking forward to seeing the 2nd unit perform.

[St. Pats]

So media day and the first few days of practice rolling along. First preseason game coming up soon.

[St. Pats]

So victory in the first preseason game. The starters were mediocre. The bench played well and won the game for them in the fourth.

[St. Pats]

Raptors season begins tonight. Everybody it seems out there trying to temper expectations in case things don't go quite as smoothly as hoped. Frankly I don't think they have looked very good in preseason but that means so little that it's meh. The only thing that makes me wonder is that the team was so lucky in the first place. Gay traded and Lowry was going to be out the door as well. Only stopped by Knicks ownership. They go from that to establishing some very nice chemistry and virtually everyone of the new players fitting in.

They surprised team after team. That won't be the case this year. They were a group whose sum was greater than the parts. Does that work for each other mentality continue? They brought in some players who address some weaknesses. Does that work as logic would seem it would or does it disrupt the chemistry that glued them together?

I hope they aren't reading all the pundits calling them division champions etc. They only achieved because of hard work overcoming lack of superstar talent. Hope their attitude stays the same. If it does I think they can duplicate last year. Maybe win a round.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Almost all Power Rankings I see right now are underrating the Raptors pretty significantly. See them generally in the 14-20 range. This was, record wise, a top 5 team after the Gay trade and their bench in inarguably better. And they didn't just beat up on the East, they had one of the best records against the West last year (16-14).

If Lowry and DeRozan can be more efficient, and if Jonas takes the next step, I think they can challenge for the East. Cleveland lacks size and Chicago is hinging on Rose staying healthy. So if nothing else we can be legitimately excited about the possibilities of this season.

[octothorp]

My expectations are a slight setback in terms of record, maybe 45-48 wins, but that's factoring in a slight setback for injuries. Their continuity will give them an advantage in the east over a lot of teams that either have a lot of changeover or simply aren't as good as them. The regular season needs to be about finding offensive and defensive consistency, Casey learning how to use his bench better to create more difficult matchups, and expanding the playbook out from what it was last year.
Horns is a great offensive scheme, but the Raptors were, by their own admission, running a limited version of it last year, compared to the complexity that a team like San Antonio runs Horns with. I think the Raptors have the personnel to execute it at a high level, but it JV really needs to become a lot better at catching the entry pass cleanly and making a quick decision with it. He's the guy the Raptors need to grow the most in order to make the next step.

[octothorp]

nm, dp