Raptors 2014-2015 season

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Especially not the worst frontrunner in sports. If the Cavs make the NBA Finals, Drake will be there. How much of a frontrunner is he? He swears by Kentucky...yet was celebrating with UConn after the title game last year. He's no Jack Nicholson that's for sure.

He's not a frontruner with the raps though. His love of them is legit. He was going on about being a fan even before they brought him in.

Anyway #wethenorth is one of the most brilliant marketing campaigns. Dude who came up with that needs a promotion.

[St. Pats]

The bubble is going to burst soon. When is the Western swing? They play like they are now and they will get owned.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by St. Pats

The bubble is going to burst soon. When is the Western swing? They play like they are now and they will get owned.

Lakers, Sacramento, Utah at the end of November should be manageable, though last 2 games are a back-to-back.
Chicago, Clippers, Denver, Portland, GS, Phoenix around Christmas is the toughest of the season, but that has only one back-to-back, and they've got the Christmas break after the Chicago game.
Atlanta, Houston, New Orleans, Dallas is a tough 4-in-5 nights trip in February.
Charlotte, Oklahoma, San Antonio in March has some tough teams but no back-to-backs.

All things considered, it's not as bad as some years, and they've got lots of time to get things ironed out first.

[Antithesis]

They play in the Eastern Conference. Their bubble isn't going to burst in any meaningful way (of course, they're not going to go through the season at a .875 winning percentage) ...

Either way, fun team to watch. Love the way the city is embracing them!

[waner]

They also are one of the few teams that are basically all about winning in the regular season.

Other teams like Chicago, Washington, OKC are trying to get/stay healthy, SA is always going to rest their guys until the play-offs, Miami and Cleveland are trying to figure out how to play with new rosters and trying to make sure Wade can walk come play-off time.

The Raptors are set up to go 100% in the regular season which should help them avoid any big stretches of losses.

I expected them to be 4/5 but looking at how the East turned out with injuries they could be 2/3 and again the underdog in their first round match-up.

[Zach]

Hopefully they can continue this into the 2H

[The Big Chill]

DeRozan is in full chucker mode tonight.

[The Big Chill]

Out scored by 21 in the 3rd. Casey should go to the bench sooner when the starters are getting pumped.

[bluejays]

I'm more annoyed that Casey didn't slow things down and call time outs. Plus he can tell them to slow the game down instead of going for the fast breaks. DeRozan chucking early was a sign of him looking for the spotlight, with TNT being there, which I think is selfish. Ah well, a minute left and 5 point differential. Let's see how this ends.

[bluejays]

I think I've counted 3 air balls from Lowry tonight. He may say all the right things nowadays, but he's another guy who can be selfish with the ball when the spotlight is on him.

[St. Pats]

Knew this was coming. Bubble officially busted open. Everything wrong with the team exposed. Their so called allstar is a chucker who chokes in big games and is horrible defensively. They need another forward who can defend and rebound. The team isn't working like it did last year until they are down double digits.

MU is going to have to make some deals to get them winning a round in the playoffs. Not tough enough on O or D. Can't lose the rebounding battle every night. Not good enough is the verdict after this test.

[bluejays]

I agree, but I don't think it'll be that difficult to make the fixes when it comes to trades and signings. The NBA has a bunch of dummy GM's, and working with the cap really makes some GM's do stupid things. MU's shown patience and knows when to pounce. The exposure the depth is getting will come in handy trade time. My guess will be Amir and Ross for some higher end help (a 1 or 2 option), in a few months.

I know Val was in foul trouble but he should have been playing more. I notice he gets more fouls when he's frustrated in not getting the ball to himself, and possibly tries overcompensating on D.

[kmart]

It seems like Demar is turning on Rudy Gay mode to begin this season. He shoots anything, even when the defence has totally collapse on him. He got completely shut down by Butler today.

Casey has got to trust Val more. He took Val out with about 6 minutes left in the third quarter and never but him back in until he needed him for free throws at the end of the game. A completely boneheaded move for a team that was getting dominated on the boards. Patterson got destroyed by Joakim Noah in the second half.

Patterson had 3 points, 1-5 FG, 3 rebounds, 24 minutes
Val with 8 points, 4-8 FG, 8 rebounds, 1 block, 23 minutes

I also think Vasquez is pressing with the acquisition of Louis Williams. The box score showed him having 5 turnovers in 14 minutes. He seems to be pushing it a bit more, doesn't seem to handle the competition all that well.

I know its early and some think that 7-2 is a good record, but the way the team has played so far isn't even close to the level they were playing at last year. Aside from Lowry I'd say the team as taken a step back, espeacially Derozan IMO.

[killer_carlson]

In the first half Chicago had 4 consecutive posessions where they turned the ball over.

The Raptors generated a grand total of ZERO points off of those turnovers. Good teams make you pay for your mistakes. The Raptors were no where near making Chicago pay.

Derozan...damn...there was a play in the first half where JV posts up, with deep position and the defender on his back at the low left hand post. Derozan plays Rudy Gay and instead tosses up an off balance deep jumper after several dribbles. Pass the damn ball.

i've yet to be convinced that Casey knows how to coach big players.

[bluejays]

So far I've been impressed with a few players on the team. It's still relatively early but the guys who I think have played better than they're supposed to (though not necessarily reflected in the overall stats): Lowry, Williams, Valanciunas, J.Johnson, Patterson. I think for the most part they've made their minutes count.

As for Casey, I don't think he doesn't know how to coach his players (though that may be the case), it's just the reality of the organization. While I'd like to see a coach lean on guys more when they do stupid plays, I think the organization as a whole shy's away from that to attract future players. Right or wrong, I think that's what happens with them. As Toronto gets a good basketball reputation, maybe they can get a coach with a heavier handed but respectable reputation, like Jerry Sloan or something.

[killer_carlson]

Gasol's comments on JV in an article which starts to question whether the coaches in Toronto are losing confidence in JV. His minutes are going down this season, not up:

http://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/n...s-valanciunas/

[killer_carlson]

Rudy ought to be sending half of this contract to MU because he was on a fast track to no-where-ville when he was in Toronto. i'm literally stunned that a player who played so poorly for the Raptors could get this much money on a contract extension. And remember, Rudy wasn't trying to mail it in to force a trade when he was a Raptor.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/n...on-with-kings/

[The Big Chill]

Getting killed on the boards again tonight. They are going to have a difficult time against decent teams if they continue to do that.

[Da_Chief]

Memphis is a decent team.

[Lil Pedro]

Liked the tribute to VC tonight, it was time to move on and recognize him