2017-18 Toronto Raptors and General NBA Thread

[TheAlpineOracle]

The Raptors aren’t winning anything with junk like Lowry and DeRozan running This team and Casey behind the bench. They need to accept this. Resigning Lowry was dumb. Take Wright, Powell, VanFleet and start to rebuild.

Such a frustrating team to follow.

[bluejays]

In fairness, 25 other teams have little chance in modern day NBA. The NBA is now generally a predictable outcome, which isn't a good thing for pro sports.

[jayswin]

Yeah, I don't know why fans of teams that aren't in the big 5/6 even follow the sport day to day anymore. No point.

[Strange Brew]

Harden accounted for 91 points last night, between points and assists. Third highest all time. Wilt is highest with 104 (his 100 point game plus 2 assists) and Harden already had a 95 points created game.

[Drake]

@WojEPSN:
Suns finalizing deal to send Eric Bledsoe to Bucks, league sources tell @ZachLowe_NBA and me.

[calculoso]

Originally Posted by jayswin

Yeah, I don't know why fans of teams that aren't in the big 5/6 even follow the sport day to day anymore. No point.

This viewpoint is only valid if all you care about is winning the championship. If you're still a fan of the sport and enjoy the game-to-game or even play-to-play battles, there is still plenty of reason to follow the sport.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Come playoff time, yes, the NBA will be predictable, although the East will at least have more intrigue this year if the Cavs struggle to integrate Isaiah Thomas when he comes back (assuming he even can come back 100%). But right now the NBA has more reasons to watch the regular season than any of the other big three sports. There are so many teams that are worth watching because of how loaded the league currently is with young talent. The big man revolution in particular is great. Between KAT, Porzingis, Jokic, AD, Embiid, you have a ton of ridiculously high ceiling players. And that's just one position. It's a lot more fun watching NBA basketball than it was 10 years ago.

Plus who can't wait to see LeBron on the Sixers next year? I sure can't.

[bluejays]

^ Why Lebron to Philly? Any theory on that?

[Senator Clay Davis]

Because the Sixers already look like a top 4 team in the East, add LeBron and they cruise to the Finals. Cavs roster is trash as we can see right now, and I really doubt he goes West, so out East that leaves the Sixers as the most logical destination. I can't see him staying with the Cavs since I can't see Gilbert doing anything but shedding salary this offseason to keep the tax bill down. Plus I really, really wanna see what a Simmons-LeBron-Embiid lineup can do. Now that sounds like a lot of fun.

Speaking of fun, doesn't appear Lonzo is having much fun. I think it's fair to say he simply sucks. He looks like Michael Carter Williams with even less of a jump shot and even poorer defense. Never though we'd see a time where a starting PG drafted #2 overall could be posting a 29/23/54 slash line, while at the same time we have a center drafted #41 overall over the mythical 50/40/90 line, but here we are.

[bluejays]

On Lonzo, I have no idea if he'll turn out to be good or not, but my impression of him is that he lacks confidence and isn't the player to turn a team around single handedly. If he has a vet to guide him and work with a star where he himself isn't the focal point, I think he'll be fine.

[Senator Clay Davis]

He is just not a good shooter, he can't shoot moving right without it being blocked or well contested because of how his shot motion is, so where that kind of shooting motion can work in high school and college, the NBA is simply far more difficult. And he doesn't appear to be a very good finisher either, thought that's easier to improve than a shot. He can probably be a great assist man, but in this era of the NBA your point guard can't be a liability shooting the ball, unless he's a big time athlete like say Ben Simmons.

[St. Pats]

Raptors finally win a game against a decent opponent. Cousins usually owns them but JV was extremely good this game. IF the NBA still featured a lot of traditional bigs JV would be a star.

[killer_carlson]

The other thing about Lonzo is that there are going to be a lot of people looking forward to his fall, ready to dog pile on it. His dad's mouth set that up for him.

[jayswin]

Raptors are so predicable.

Down one with one more shot, give it to Derozan, he ****s around and puts up a lazy fade away, misses.

Boston takes a fluke offensive foul giving them another chance, give it to Derozan, he ****s around and puts up a lazy fade away, misses. Game over.

[St. Pats]

Originally Posted by jayswin

Raptors are so predicable.

Down one with one more shot, give it to Derozan, he ****s around and puts up a lazy fade away, misses.

Boston takes a fluke offensive foul giving them another chance, give it to Derozan, he ****s around and puts up a lazy fade away, misses. Game over.

Celtics without their best two players still better than the Raptors. Largely in part to having a great young coach who isn't a total bozo like Casey.

The culture reset is going to take a long long time. Especially with dufus Casey at the helm. MU should just show him the door.

[octothorp]

Raptors playing a great half against Houston so far: 76-64. I really love Anunoby's game. If he can keep some consistency on the 3 point shot (he's 8-13 this month), he'll be a great player.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Originally Posted by jayswin

Raptors are so predicable.

Down one with one more shot, give it to Derozan, he ****s around and puts up a lazy fade away, misses.

Boston takes a fluke offensive foul giving them another chance, give it to Derozan, he ****s around and puts up a lazy fade away, misses. Game over.

Not to defend the end of game shot selection because it wasn't good, but DeRozan should be making one of those two shots. Neither shot was all that tough and midrange is his wheelhouse.

[St. Pats]

Originally Posted by octothorp

Raptors playing a great half against Houston so far: 76-64. I really love Anunoby's game. If he can keep some consistency on the 3 point shot (he's 8-13 this month), he'll be a great player.

Plus according to the broadcast crew who inform us every stinkin game he isn't healthy yet. I don't know but his jumping power looks pretty healthy to me. If he ain't 100% I'll bet he is pretty close. Casey is such a bozo but yet lucks out with Powell going down to injury. So he has to put OG in and presto away they go with an improbable win after a real stinker of a loss.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Fun fact, Anunoby has one of the top five net ratings in the NBA, and the Raptors are +13.4 per 100 when he's on the floor, and -0.4 when he's not. Although that second number really shows the Raps are a very solid team even without him. I keep seeing a Kawhi-lite player, could be the steal of the draft.

[octothorp]

Someone on twitter posted Harden's stats from last night with OG on and off the court:

Harden's numbers with OG on the floor: 2/15 from the floor, 1/6 from 3, 6 AST and 6 TOV, -12 in 23 MP.

When OG sat, he was 6/10 from the floor, 2/5 from 3, 5 AST, 3 TOV, +10 in 16 MP.

https://twitter.com/dhackett1565/sta...unoby%2Fpage28

(He's a great follow for stats-interested Raptors fans.)