2015-16 Raptors and General NBA Thread

[killer_carlson]

Originally Posted by octothorp

If this roster is this:
KL / DW
DD / TR
DC / JJ
?? / PP
JV / BB

Depending on who you get to play starting PF, that's pretty solid. And then Bruno, Bebe, Daniels, and Powell getting spot duty and d-league minutes. I actually like that bench unit a lot, and their ability to come in and make an impact in a lot of different ways. But if the plan is to start PP, or slide DC up to PF in a small-ball starting unit, I'm less impressed.

That might be who starts, but JV will see 18 minutes before replaced by Paterson in any event.

Really the depth chart looks like this now that Lou has left.

KL
DD

any random 3 players Casey decides to put on the floor with strict instructions to do nothing but run picks for Lowry and Derozan. They are not to dribble, ask for the ball, or shoot unless it is a put back or a 3. Before shooting a 3 they are to look to see if Lowry or Derozan want the ball back.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Raptors on the verge of signing Cory Joseph. Sort of odd signing after drafting Delon Wright but he's a good backup PG who will facilitate more than try and score and is a good defender.

[Da_Chief]

Wright can learn and go down to D-League if needed. Wright does have the size to play SG too if needed. Good adds so far but need a good #4 still.

[Trojan97]

Loving the signings of Carroll, Biyombo and Joseph. Casey gets a roster better suited to his coaching style which is much needed if they are going to move forward with him at the helm. That isn't to say it is going to work out, but at least they are playing to their strengths.

[Senator Clay Davis]

4 years and $30 million for Joseph is pretty steep, making more than Lou now and borderline starter money. Wonder if it means anything for Lowry.

[Imported_Aussie]

Joseph got paid a premium as the Raptors wanted a Canadian guy, and with the cap set to rise, this won't look as bad in years 2-4.
He is a capable defender and passer - the kind of guy you want on the second unit. It also means they can either take their time with Wright or they could shop Ross to strengthen at the 4.
Ross + Ridnour's non-guaranteed deal as a starting point in a trade?

Ross could be kept as a 6th man too, though I think if a trade can be made, he is the chip you can deal


Edit: maybe the raps have a PF in mind - Chris Broussard: Sources: Carlos Boozer is in on-going conversations with LAC, SA, Dallas and Toronto

[bluejays]

Boozer seems like a real stretch at this point in his career. I do trust Masai, but if you go for Boozer, especially after striking out with others, it seems like we're doing the same thing Colangelo did. Marginal upgrades without really filling needs. Mind you my expectations with this years' FA crop were next to nothing, but I did expect some creativity from Uriji.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Boozer at or around the league minimum or mid-level or whatever he gets is ok enough I suppose if he's limited to 20 minutes a night he could probably be decently effective....maybe.

Still, the Spurs got better and David West got poorer in a pretty crazy swap of making $12 million for Indiana to making the $1.4 million in San Antonio. But holy crap that team is stacked. And David West hopefully has managed his money well.

[Da_Chief]

I like the David West story and if the Spurs win the championship this year, I'm sure they'll do something for West next year or in his retirement years. They take care of their guys.

Also West has made 87 mill in his career.

[OzSome]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Raptors on the verge of signing Cory Joseph. Sort of odd signing after drafting Delon Wright but he's a good backup PG who will facilitate more than try and score and is a good defender.

Kyle Lowry been injured a lot last season so I think having Joseph as a backup and Wright as an insurance is a good thing.

I am hoping Casey uses JV much more this coming season.

[octothorp]

It's hard to imagine what the Raptors offence is going to be this year. Without Vasquez and Lou, they can't run the same sort of all-perimeter, mostly iso offence they had last year (which is good). But they also lost the guy who was the heart-and-soul of the horns offense they had a couple years ago, in Amir. Dude was one of the best screen-setters in the league.

My prediction is that they will go somewhat back toward horns though. A short video from JV had Nurse working with him in Lithuania, and it looked to me like the skillset they were working on was related to pick-and-roll. As well, both Joseph and Wright are pick-and-roll creators. Pretty much the only way that Biyombo can get non-garbage buckets is on the pick-and-roll. Bebe and JV both excelled at it when younger. They've got a couple floor-spacers in Carroll and Ross who can work well in that sort of offence. Patterson can do a decent pick-and-pop. Pretty-much the only guys who don't fit into that style of offence are Lowry and DeRozan, though both got by well enough last year when the Raptors ran horns. I would like to see a lot more creativity in trying to find ways to use DeRozan's strengths, rather than just letting him go iso all the time.

When it looked like there was a possibility of the Raptors turfing Casey, my first choice hire was turkish-league coach Obradovic, and I started watching some videos on his approach to pick-and-roll. And several of the sets involved the ball being passed into a big-man at the high post, the pick-and-roll ball-handler coming off a pindown screen and curling around the big man, taking a hand-off, and then executing one of several options. To me, this would be a perfect offense to use with DeRozan as the ball-handler, because you're not asking him to cross anyone up or beat anyone off the dribble. You're giving him the ball at the top of the key with the defense in scramble mode, and either take a quick uncontested foul-line jumper or drive it in, both things that DeRozan can excel at.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Big drama? DeAndre Jordan is apparently reconsidering signing with the Mavericks and the Clippers have met with him to try and keep him.

[octothorp]

Yeah, pretty crazy to think that all the agreements during this amnesty period are non-binding until the period's over and they sign real paper contracts. That's an absurd amount of money tied up in non-binding verbal agreements and handshakes.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Well I imagine there will be changes now, Mark Cuban is gonna lose his #### if this goes down. Clippers might kidnap him to get it done, they're literally blocking the Mavs from even seeing him.

Ramona Shelburne @ramonashelburne
Clippers believe DJ is returning to LA but I'm told they are staying at his house until he can sign at midnight.

Adrian Wojnarowski ‏@WojYahooNBA
So far, Clippers able to keep everyone else out of house, including Cuban, agents. Everyone. They're in four-corners until midnight Eastern.

Blake Griffin ‏@blakegriffin32
Don't agree with the furniture layout but I'm not an interior designer.

[Da_Chief]

This is insane lol. Talk about peer pressure.
Stole this from Raps forum.

[OzSome]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Well I imagine there will be changes now, Mark Cuban is gonna lose his #### if this goes down. Clippers might kidnap him to get it done, they're literally blocking the Mavs from even seeing him.

Wow I guess verbal agreement doesn't mean crap anymore. Dallas is accusing the Clippers to entice DJ after his verbal agreement with Dallas. They claimed when a player agreed verbally to another team, the team where he is leaving from are not allowed to talk to him anymore.

Love the twitter exchange by Blake Griffin, Chandler Parsons, Chris Paul and others.

[bluejays]

It's about time Cuban's team gets screwed. The guy complains and complains and seems to always be the brat that wins.

...neither team is a winner though - San Antonio is a lock for the championship this year.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Texas Hold-Em or #######?

Adrian Wojnarowski ‏@WojYahooNBA
Yahoo Source: Clippers, DeAndre Jordan meeting was short. It was clear he was returning to them. Then they started to play cards.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by Da_Chief

This is insane lol. Talk about peer pressure.
Stole this from Raps forum.

I like this one:

[octothorp]

Raptors sign Scola. It looks increasingly like Patterson will be the starting PF. Still could trade for one, though.