2015-16 Raptors and General NBA Thread

[Johnny199r]

The Bulls are in the #8 seed. Do the Raptors want to finish first?

[octothorp]

One wildcard for Bebe is his 3 point shot. In the d-league he's about 27% on about 1 attempt per game. Which isn't great, but for a young 7' center, it's not nothing, either; if he ever figures that out to the point that he can be a +33% 3-point shooter in the NBA, that's huge. He's also a decent passer. So I think there's enough there to continue to invest in him.

[Drake]

Longtime Turner Sports sideline reporter Craig Sager said in an interview for Tuesday's episode of HBO's Real Sports that doctors informed him in February he was no longer in remission from leukemia.

Dan Devine of Yahoo Sports reported Monday a Turner Sports spokesperson told him Sager will continue his duties for the NBA on TNT broadcasts.

It appears Sager is intent on continuing to live his life how he desires and isn't backing down from the latest leukemia setback, as he told HBO correspondent Bernard Goldberg in the interview:

Still kicking, still fighting. I haven't won the battle. It's not over yet. But I haven't lost it, either. There have been some victories and some setbacks, but I still have to fight it. I still have a lot of work to do.

Sager also indicated in the Real Sports interview he's received two stem cell transplants and added that patients seldom have a third one.

Per Devine, Sager's upcoming work schedule features March 29's game between the Washington Wizards and Golden State Warriors, a Chicago Bulls-Houston Rockets contest on March 31 and an April 7 showdown between the Bulls and the Miami Heat.

http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles...is_shared=true

[calculoso]

SI says that he was told he has 3-6 months to live, but that he's going to be a fighter

http://www.si.com/nba/2016/03/21/cra...t-in-remission
"...I’m not going to be that 3–6 months. I‘m going to be that five years. I’m going to make medical history. ... I’m fighting this thing to the end. I have too much to do."

[Senator Clay Davis]

Not good...

The prized free agent signing, who is also the team's highest-paid player, appeared close to a return a few weeks ago when he was driving to the hoop against assistant coaches and launching three-pointers. The next step was clearance for contact. But then all went dark. Carroll's been in Atlanta tending to some personal matters (he is due back this week), the team has kept tight-lipped, but every indication from talking to various people is there has been some sort of set-back and his return this season is very much in doubt. Quietly, the team has taken the belief that he will need more time, and only a deep playoff run would let him return this season.

http://www.torontosun.com/2016/03/29...rn-for-raptors

[octothorp]

Yeah, not good at all. But I'd rather have him shut down for the season than have an ineffective version of him in the playoffs that risks a re-injury.

[Senator Clay Davis]

This D'Angelo Russell story...way to torch your career before it even gets going. Wonder how badly the Lakers wish they drafted Okafor or Porzingis.

[Language]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

This D'Angelo Russell story...way to torch your career before it even gets going. Wonder how badly the Lakers wish they drafted Okafor or Porzingis.

What a weird story. I have absolutely no idea how he thought that was a good idea...what an idiot.

[flames_fan_down_under]

Just combination of so many stupid people behaving like idiots.

[kmart]

Raps finally hit 50 wins in a season. No better time to be a fan with Lowry as a top 3 point guard, Masai compiling tons of young assets, and DeMar playing like an Allstar. Team is also heading into the postseason relatively injury free. I know Lowry's got the elbow issue, but it doesn't seem to have anywhere near the the impact that last seasons injury did.

Also, Norman Powell sure looks like a fine young player. His shot is coming along nicely, and he's anti-Ross in terms of dribbling and attacking the basket. With the way he is playing, I could see Ross being gone in the postseason. It's tough but, he's cracked into Dwayne Casey's veteran heavy rotation as a rookie.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Powell has definitely impressed the past few weeks. He had a good summer league for the Raps, good to see he's stuck with it and is now a rotation player. Took his chance when Carroll when down and has run with it. Be interesting to see how they play this upcoming back-to-back in Memphis/SA. Might be wise to sit a bunch of guys for the Spurs game, although Pop might do the same making it a wash. Spurs also broke the 95-96 Bulls record by starting the year 38-0 at home, though you'd expect the Warriors to match that shortly.

Speaking of Carroll, apparently he's going to be back before the end of the season?

Toronto Raptors forward DeMarre Carroll expects to rejoin the active roster before the regular season ends in less than two weeks. Carroll has been sidelined since Jan. 4 after he had surgery to repair a right knee injury.

"Hopefully I’m going to try to play a couple games before the end of the season," Carroll told reporters, according to TSN.ca. "That’s the goal. We’re going to try to ramp it up a lot this week to try to get some conditioning back. But the way I play, I play like a dog. When you play like a dog, you can’t go out there being passive. I don’t want to be a poodle out there. I want to be like a bulldog."

http://espn.go.com/blog/nba/rumors/p...ad-of-playoffs

[Drake]

Streak over! Celtics defeat the Warriors, snap the Warriors 54-game home winning streak.

[Montana Moe]

To say this Blazers season has been a pleasant surprise would be quite the understatement. Most pundits pegged them for less than 30 wins. Their victory last night guaranteed them at least a .500 record. If things come together, they could slip in to the 5th playoff spot in the West.

I'd love to see a Clippers vs. Blazers first round series.

[Drake]

Westbrook with his 17th triple double of the season. Ties him with Magic for most in past 30 years.

[kmart]

Originally Posted by Montana Moe

To say this Blazers season has been a pleasant surprise would be quite the understatement. Most pundits pegged them for less than 30 wins. Their victory last night guaranteed them at least a .500 record. If things come together, they could slip in to the 5th playoff spot in the West.

I'd love to see a Clippers vs. Blazers first round series.

Thought that team would be in the eighth seed after watching them play sometime in November/December. Now they have the chance of being the fifth overall seed, with a real possibility of beating the Clippers IMO. That backcourt of Lillard and McCollum is the third best backcourt this season, behind Golden States and Toronto's backcourts.

This Raptor's team is great as well. Day in and day out they are just proving their standing of second in the East. They've finally established their position in the East and can finally rest their players the rest of the way, I would've never guessed that in the beginning of the season. The ultimate goal is the second round and more, and I believe this team is totally capable of that. This isn't last years Raptors.

[Senator Clay Davis]

The Wolves are going to be a really exciting team in the next 2-4 years. That core is absolutely loaded, Anthony-Towns, Wiggins, Rubio, Zach LaVine, Gorgui Dieng, Shabazz Muhammad...all under 26. Great win over the Warriors, who have to win out now to get the 73 win record. It's possible, but with two games each against the Grizzlies and Spurs (who can still get the #1 seed amazingly) left, they'll probably get another loss in there. They should probably focus on rest anyway, they look pretty tired.

Also congrats to Tim Duncan on become the third ever player to 1,000 career wins as a player, and the only one to do it with one team (Kareem and Robert Parish are the others).

[Senator Clay Davis]

So no need to fear a potential first round matchup with the Bulls for the Raps, the Bulls are pretty much dead now. Looking like it should be Indiana as the matchup, Detroit possible as well. The more interesting race is the #3 seed as a potential second round matchup. Miami, Boston, Charlotte and Atlanta all battling for it. I think anyone but Miami would be good for the Raps.

[octothorp]

If the Raptors pull out a win against Indiana tomorrow night, they'll have won the regular season series against every other EC playoff team. Which is pretty astounding when you think about it, given the relative parity that the conference seems to have. (Cleveland, by comparison, lost their season series to the Raptors and Heat, and will tie or lose Detroit based on the last game between them). I'm usually really, really reluctant to give Casey credit for very much, but that does speak to the team preparing well for such games.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Carroll is in the lineup tonight and played 7 minutes in the first half. Looked fine, but I imagine he's limited for the remainder of the season with a game or two off even.

[Drake]

Thibodeau has to be somewhere right now laughing his ass off. Paxson and Forman should be canned along with their *Yes man* Holiberg.