2017-18 Toronto Raptors and General NBA Thread

[Strange Brew]

That is pretty doom and gloom for a team who is first overall and dominating games every night. You may end up right, but I am far less certain of the results so I get to enjoy the ride. Rockets look fantastic.

[Senator Clay Davis]

For sure enjoy the ride, just like Celtics fans enjoyed the ride to the #1 seed last year. Everyone thought the Cavs were vulnerable last year....then they won their first 11 playoff games and that was that. NBA is easily the most predictable of the leagues, Houston was good in the regular season last year too (not this good obviously), but it didn't really matter come playoff time. And as good as Houston has played, the Warriors on maybe 70% effort are only a half game back for the #1 seed. Houston's best shot is still Durant or Curry suffering a season ender.

[Strange Brew]

Celtics had a very nice season but Rockets win percentage above .860 right now. That is pretty special.

[Senator Clay Davis]

The Rockets winning percentage might be the best thing to make my point. Despite playing at the highest level they can, the Rockets are a whopping 1.5 games ahead of the Warriors, who are playing 2-3 levels below their highest level and, having learned from 2015, are coasting through the year instead of killing themselves every night. This is where Durant ruined everything, because without him you could make the case the Rockets might be the favorites and that the West is really interesting.

But the two biggest threats to the Warriors haven't changed from the start of the season: Durant's ACL, and Curry's ACL. Unless one of those things gives out, the Warriors can still reach a level (and maybe even two levels) no one else can, and that still makes them the prohibitive favorites.

[Strange Brew]

The Rockets win percentage has nothing to do with the Warriors though. It simply demonstrates they are having a phenomenal season and comparing to the Celtics last year was not an accurate comparison.

I am not able to conclude that Rockets are playing at 100% of their potential and Warriors are only at 70%. No one can. But if you are interested in the NBA, there is a team that is playing lights out, has significantly changed their lineup from last year, and is exciting to watch. Great teams have lost a playoff series before and nothing in sports is a foregone conclusion.

I agree the Warriors are the favorites, but that's different than dismissing every other team. What's the point in following the sport then?

[Senator Clay Davis]

The Celtics comparison is about how meaningless the regular season is and how, like the Celtics (and Raptors too in 2016), what the Rockets do in the regular season is fundamentally irrelevant. The difference between the quality of play and intensity of effort in playoff basketball versus regular season is far greater than in any other league, even hockey. Throw in a significant increase in physicality and the often questionable reffing to get desired results (hint: Cavs-Warriors IV is the NBA's preferred result), and it all becomes pretty easy to predict. The rare Mavericks NBA title is exactly that, a rare occurrence.

As to why watch? Because you like basketball and enjoy watching it? The last two seasons have been eight month coronations as we played out the string to get to Cavs-Warriors, and the season before that was the Cavs were going to play in the Finals against someone. Still got some drama in 2016 as the Warriors almost lost to the Thunder, then did lose to the Cavs. NBA is generally more top heavy than the other leagues, primarily because of superstars and refs. And basketball is probably the sport where in a seven game series the best team most often wins. There's no such thing as a goalie to steal a series, or a hot bat to steal a series.

The Rockets very well may shock the world, but having to rely on a trio of notorious playoff chokers in Chris Paul, James Harden and Mike D'Antoni doesn't really inspire a lot of confidence. And that has a lot to do with why most fans are still dismissing the Rockets as longshots.

[Senator Clay Davis]

We like the rag on this team a lot, but here we are 30 games in and they have as many losses as the Celtics, though have somehow played four fewer games so are still two games back for first in the East. I actually think the offense has improved in the last month and looks more fluent than earlier in the year. I would also say DeMar is making it hard to deny he's the greatest Raptor ever, even ahead of Vince. We really don't appreciate him enough, if he could shoot the three like he has tonight (well, not this good, but you know 40%) he would a no doubt top 10 player in the league. As it is he'll have to settle for top 15 or so.

[The Big Chill]

I think DeMar gets underrated because he makes scoring look so easy. He so smooth that a game looks like a layup drill to him at times.

The most impressive thing about him is the way he keeps improving each year, even this far into his career. He is adding a deep shot to his game, but he's also increased his shooting percentage to 49%, and his assists over 5 per game. Really impressive stuff.

Now he just needs to do it all in playoffs.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by The Big Chill

I think DeMar gets underrated because he makes scoring look so easy. He so smooth that a game looks like a layup drill to him at times.

The most impressive thing about him is the way he keeps improving each year, even this far into his career. He is adding a deep shot to his game, but he's also increased his shooting percentage to 49%, and his assists over 5 per game. Really impressive stuff.

Now he just needs to do it all in playoffs.

Durant was on Simmons' podcast this summer and Simmons asked Durant if there was one move or thing he could do differently in the NBA what would it be and he said he wishes he had Demar's footwork. Coupled with Demar working on his shooting, he's on the cusp of superstar status.

[octothorp]

My favorite lineup for the Raptors is the small-ball lineup that closed out the game in Philly last night: Lowry, DeRozan, Anunoby, Wright, and Ibaka. (Could also do it with JV when playing against elite Cs, but so far they haven't.) They've only gotten significant run in a couple games, last night and the Houston game back before Wright's injury, but I think that's the best mix of reliable offense and high pressure defense the Raptors can roll out. It's similar to some of the best lineups that the Raptors had last year, but with Anunoby and Wright in place of Patterson and Joseph, and both are an upgrade on defense and in transition.

One thing I give Casey credit for; he tries a lot more lineups than he used to, and he doesn't overplay his best situational lineups... meaning they're a harder team overall to gameplan for.

[octothorp]

With Boston and Cleveland both losing on Christmas day, Raptors move into first in the east. With one of the more home-friendly schedules the rest of the way, they can definitely take the conference if they avoid any slumps. After the current road trip (tonight in Dallas, tomorrow in OKC), they'll have just one other western conference road game (Minnesota on Jan 20).

[bluejays]

I'm just watching the OKC game right now, and it just occurred to me that the Raps actually play scared against good teams. Lowry and DeRozan (less so this year) simply don't have real confidence. Lowry has this forced confidence, but it's like watching a nervous kid who who people around him have told him he's great, but deep down inside he's mentally not confident.

[Beninho]

Raptors are fools gold, can get by in the east because of how bad it is but this core will never come close to a championship. Powell has looked so bad this season and the dudes getting 40 mill, rather have ross

[Senator Clay Davis]

What a meltdown by Harden at the end of that game.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by Beninho

Raptors are fools gold, can get by in the east because of how bad it is but this core will never come close to a championship. Powell has looked so bad this season and the dudes getting 40 mill, rather have ross

Lets not get crazy here. Powell was looking great coming into this season while Ross was frustratingly up and down and would never amount to a starter. Powell still has significant upside. I wouldn't deal him aggressively that's for sure.

[killer_carlson]

Originally Posted by Beninho

Raptors are fools gold, can get by in the east because of how bad it is but this core will never come close to a championship. Powell has looked so bad this season and the dudes getting 40 mill, rather have ross

Once the ball got to Ross' hands it wasn't going anywhere. Didn't matter where he got it on the court - even a defensive rebound. he was not going to pass.

You go no where with players like that.

[TheAlpineOracle]

I want to get excited for the Raps. I really do, but every time I see them play a decent oppponent like Milwaukee tonight I see nothing but a mediocre team who would be .500 in the Western Conference at best. These guys can’t win big games. They beat up on a garbage conference. That’s about it.

[Strange Brew]

My love for the Rockets looks to have been premature.

Still hoping they are healthy for the playoffs but will be hard to get home court back from GS.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Ridiculous performance by Derozan. Kobe like. Point remains though. Raptors don’t inspire any confidence that they are actually a contender.

[Senator Clay Davis]

DeMar is 20/38 from three in his last seven games. Could just be a blip, but it's nice to see he's starting to show some confidence back there.