2015-16 Raptors and General NBA Thread

[Da_Chief]

Haters gonna hate. Go Raps Go Warriors.

[jayswin]

Not a hater, just watched enough NBA to know the deal. But yes, go Raps!

[Da_Chief]

What deal is that? They've won some close games? gotten some favorable calls? show me a single successful team who didn't calls their way or won close games.

Winning 24 in a row is incredible, that too after already having captured the championshiop.

[jayswin]

The deal that officiating isn't completely on the up and up and it shows, and has led to major issues for the league before (aka, a championship being found to be fixed). It's a very easy game to fix as long as the desired team can keep it close, and the league clearly isn't clean.

Bill Burr has joked before how there's literally millions of fans/people that know but it just kind of happens because people like the game and buy tickets/watch games.

[TheAlpineOracle]

I haven't felt that NBA officiating has been on the level since those two Kings/Lakers series back in 2000 and 2002. I never looked at basketball the same way after those series. If it wasn't for Vince Carter, those series would have been the end of me watching the NBA.

[St. Pats]

So December 15th coming up soon and more players become eligible for a trade. Still think the Raptors need to make a significant move to actually contend.

[octothorp]

They probably do, but with so much parity this year, it's going to be hard to find a trading partner. The big cap increase makes it even harder, with nobody really caring that much about freeing up cap space. Deadline is a long way off, but I think it'll be a quiet year for in-season trading.

[TheAlpineOracle]

The Raptors and their goddamn unnecessary 3 pointers. Just terrible shot selection. How many seasons is this ridiculous shot selection going to continuing. They would have got back in the game in that big run if they just took the ball to the paint instead of missing three straight 3s. Still a chance, but man are they playing stupid.

Also, as much as we bitch about the refs, Lowry has to be the biggest mouthpiece in tbe league. Whose going to give that guy a call. He could flat punch someone in the Face and still be complaining to the refs about the call.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

The Raptors and their goddamn unnecessary 3 pointers. Just terrible shot selection. How many seasons is this ridiculous shot selection going to continuing. They would have got back in the game in that big run if they just took the ball to the paint instead of missing three straight 3s. Still a chance, but man are they playing stupid.

That's part of it, but also they were trying to pass inside when the pass wasn't there. Patterson, in particular, needs to catch the ball ready to shoot. I think three times today he passed up an open shot for a difficult pass that resulted in a turnover. Too often they're passing up an open shot for a contested one.

Overall, the shot selection is better this year: they've replaced a lot of long 2s with midrange 2s, decreased above-the-break 3s, and increased shots attempts at the rim. But it's still not a pretty offence, they need to work hard to create looks, and it falls apart when Lowry and DeRozan are on the bench.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Raps outscored 101-64 after the 26-5 start. That certainly fell apart spectacularly.

[kmart]

Games like this is where they miss Valancuinas and Carroll. Second night of a back to back with Derozan and Lowry playing heavy minutes against the awful 76ers. They would've shown a better effort and dismantled the 76ers yesterday with those guys in the line up.

Part of me worries that Lowry and Derozan's current minutes are going to backfire against them later on in the season. I know they're pros and Lowry got into shape, but the heavy minutes might just backfire on them. Looking at stats they rank 8th and 12th respectively in the league in terms of minutes. We all know what second half Lowry was like last season too and I'm the Raptors I have the same concerns this season especially with the way Lowry plays.

I wish that Casey would pull a Pop and just take Lowry out and sit him for a week the way he does that to all of his players, but after watching our bench blow a lead to the lowly 76ers I realized he can't do that.

They need Valancuinas and Carroll to get healthy fast or this season could spiral out of control by seasons end.

[octothorp]

Yeah, I don't like the minutes allocation. Against a team like the 76ers, I think you need to just roll with your bench playing big minutes, and then accept that you may need to bring the starters back in late, rather than playing your starters big minutes early hoping to put them away.

And yeah, the bench guys haven't been pulling their weight lately, and missing a couple starters doesn't help. Also, the team really struggles when Joseph is off (edit: I mean off his game, not off the court). He's really, really important to the team's success... arguably the third most important guy on the team right now.

On the bright side, that Knicks/Nuggets draft pick is looking solid. 538's season simulator has those teams finishing 5th and 6th. If we get anything in the top 10, that's great. Of the guys thought to be in that range right now, Ellenson is intriguing to me, although if Murray's on the board, it would be difficult to pass on him. I could also see Masai taking a good look at Diallo.

[kmart]

Originally Posted by octothorp

Yeah, I don't like the minutes allocation. Against a team like the 76ers, I think you need to just roll with your bench playing big minutes, and then accept that you may need to bring the starters back in late, rather than playing your starters big minutes early hoping to put them away.

And yeah, the bench guys haven't been pulling their weight lately, and missing a couple starters doesn't help. Also, the team really struggles when Joseph is off (edit: I mean off his game, not off the court). He's really, really important to the team's success... arguably the third most important guy on the team right now.

On the bright side, that Knicks/Nuggets draft pick is looking solid. 538's season simulator has those teams finishing 5th and 6th. If we get anything in the top 10, that's great. Of the guys thought to be in that range right now, Ellenson is intriguing to me, although if Murray's on the board, it would be difficult to pass on him. I could also see Masai taking a good look at Diallo.

I think the minutes are Terrance Ross' fault. He was thought of as their sixth man and a huge factor on the bench, so far his contract that he signed has been a serious disappointment. The fact that Ross can't score against opposing bench units forces Derozan and Lowry to play more minutes.

I understand that it may seem like Cory Joseph is at fault on the off night, but too often he's put into a situation he cannot be successful in. How many times have you seen Cory Joseph just hold on to the ball with no time left on the shot clock? He's not used to isolating, but he's forced to because their aren't other guys on the team to do it.

[St. Pats]

The offense really is the weak link but then that was what they decided in the offseason. So I'm alright with that. Ross and Patterson aren't getting it done and the contract for Ross was just plain stupid. Still if there is anything Ujiri is good at it's getting rid of bad contracts so let's hope he gets busy.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by kmart

I think the minutes are Terrance Ross' fault. He was thought of as their sixth man and a huge factor on the bench, so far his contract that he signed has been a serious disappointment. The fact that Ross can't score against opposing bench units forces Derozan and Lowry to play more minutes.

I understand that it may seem like Cory Joseph is at fault on the off night, but too often he's put into a situation he cannot be successful in. How many times have you seen Cory Joseph just hold on to the ball with no time left on the shot clock? He's not used to isolating, but he's forced to because their aren't other guys on the team to do it.

Yeah, there is a problem that the second unit doesn't really have an offensive identity. Ross is actually very successful as a catch-and-shoot catch-and-drive player. But for that to work, there needs to be plays being run. The scariest thing about Ross this season is that he's occasionally being used as an iso player, and it looks like this is by design. If that's not a sign that the coaching staff is committed to iso as an offensive philosophy...

Between Joseph, Ross, Patterson, Johnson, and Bebe (let's suppose he supplants Biyombo as the bench C at some point), there's plenty of skill there to run a horns scheme, with lots of high screens, with a mix of pick and roll, pick and pop, kickouts. They're actually all a really nice skill compliment for one-another. But that's not the way the bench is used. Instead, there's almost always one of DeRozan and Lowry on the court, so those guys end up getting the vast majority of touches, usually in iso sets. Patterson and Ross are just being used for spacing, and get passed to rarely and often don't catch the ball ready to shoot - resulting in pass-outs or awkward shots.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Holy crap DeMar with the long 3 to win but they called timeout...

[octothorp]

Big win tonight, given it's 2nd game of a back-to-back, two starters still out, and against a team they usually struggle against. Really solid defense for the 4th and most of the 3rd.

[St. Pats]

Originally Posted by octothorp

Big win tonight, given it's 2nd game of a back-to-back, two starters still out, and against a team they usually struggle against. Really solid defense for the 4th and most of the 3rd.

Impressive as they seemed really tired in the first half. Like the injuries/sked had finally overtaken them. But a resurgence in the 2nd half. They really need injured players back. At least Casey finally played JJ.

[Drake]

Yikes, Butler publicly called out Hoiberg after tonight's loss to the Knicks.

[Trojan97]

Originally Posted by Drake

Yikes, Butler publicly called out Hoiberg after tonight's loss to the Knicks.

It's funny, when I first read the headline I didn't think it would be too bad at all. Just a player stating the team wasn't pulling their weight and the coach would be be in the right to come down hard on them.

But when you read the article and see the quotes from Butler, it's just wrong in so many ways. The turmoil in that lockerroom is going to be full blown now. I can't see any good coming out of what he said. Hoiberg must be daydreaming of life at Iowa St right about now.