Raptors Discussion: v53 | Raps' hostage-free FA signings | Joseph/Carroll presser Thu 9th @10am ET/7am PT

[The Nemesis]

This is the team you expect to be built when you have a defensive coach like Casey.

The team we had last season, wasn't playing to his strengths, which is defense.

I like the Scola signing. Only a 1 year deal, the worst that happens is like Nem said, he comes off the bench as a security role with PPat. I don't mind P Pat getting a bigger role. He's shown a lot of growth since he's come to Toronto and he'll give JV come room down low.

Scola is a solid defender, good rebounder, a good hustler, and he's got a good touch around the net. He's a savvy vet, and he's coming cheaper then David West would have, which they probably would've brought similar skill set with Scola IMO being a better defender.

What the Raps need now from this roster is twofold: 1) By having Ross as the backup SG, he needs to push past his spot-up 3-guy role/tendencies from last year and actually take the reins somewhat as a more versatile scorer for the 2nd unit, and 2) Johnson needs to do what Lowry did: sack up and get past this silly spat with Casey. He needs to dedicate himself to playing within himself and being.... not dumb on the court. He's shown he can do it, so we're not asking the impossible here.

 

[DD03]

What the Raps need now from this roster is twofold: 1) By having Ross as the backup SG, he needs to push past his spot-up 3-guy role/tendencies from last year and actually take the reins somewhat as a more versatile scorer for the 2nd unit, and 2) Johnson needs to do what Lowry did: sack up and get past this silly spat with Casey. He needs to dedicate himself to playing within himself and being.... not dumb on the court. He's shown he can do it, so we're not asking the impossible here.

One of the problems with Johnson is that he'd hit a three, then he'd fall in love with his jumper. Or at times the ball would just stop at him. He's a good slasher and all, but when he's on the court he needs to remember he's not the end all be all.

East is getting more competitive so it should be an interesting season.

 

[hockeywiz542]

 

[The Nemesis]

One of the problems with Johnson is that he'd hit a three, then he'd fall in love with his jumper. Or at times the ball would just stop at him. He's a good slasher and all, but when he's on the court he needs to remember he's not the end all be all.

East is getting more competitive so it should be an interesting season.

yep. If there's a bright side, it's that he showed less of a penchant for off-script hero-balling in the last couple years than he did in his 1st Raptors turn. It's still not controlled enough, but it's a positive step.

 

[mcleex]

Man I used to absolutely love Scola when he was in Houston.

Used to always draft him in the late rounds in my fantasy teams and he would be a beast. Him and Zach Randolph lol

Hope he can bring some interior toughness to our team

 

[Swervin81]

yep. If there's a bright side, it's that he showed less of a penchant for off-script hero-balling in the last couple years than he did in his 1st Raptors turn. It's still not controlled enough, but it's a positive step.

My problems with JJ are:
- He reaches and gambles far too much on defense. It is ungodly frustrating when he picks up ticky-tack fouls in the backcourt for trying to do too much. Just stay in front of your man, is that too much to ask? When he plays with his hands up and moving his feet, he locks down pretty much anybody with his athleticism. But the gambling bites him.
- Jumpers. Just don't. You're wide open for a reason. He was a LOT more efficient last year and could finish inside, so the chucking is definitely far down from what it used to be.
- Turnovers. Trying to be too fine with passes and having no handles really hurts him in this regard. Last year, he passed a lot more, but aldo turned over a ton just because he tried to be cute. Not to mention constantly stripped due to his bad handles.

I do think him getting benched in the playoffs reslly aided in our sievery on D. Did us no favors. I mean right now, we have the following defensive prognostication:

PG
Lowry: Gambles FAR too much. STOP. ****ING. REACHING. There's a reason virtually every PG that faced us last year went off against us, even scrubs like Augustin.
Joseph: Good defender (replaces General Sievus Trashquez... no comment)
Wright: Pretty much his strongest asset, D is.

SG
DeMar: Solid fundementals. Exactly average defensively.
Ross: Garbage. Especially off the ball where he's too lazy to bother actually fighting through screens and not losing his man. Lou was a sieve too defensively, so I guess it's better.

SF
Carroll: Great defender. Probably our best in this regard. Pushing Ross to a spot he's more comfortable defrnsively likely.
JJ: See above. Our best defender AINEC when he has his head on straight.

PF
Patterson: Good on the help, but he gets abused down low. Also can't grab a rebound.
Scola: Solid defender all around and rebounds. Doesn't really stand out in any way, though. Downgrade from Amir in that regard, except for his ankles.

C
JV: Very good rim protector, bad help D. Grest rebounder. Overall, above aberage to good.
Biyombo: Our best interior defender by far. Huge upgrade over Hansbrough.

If we aren't a top 10 defrnsive team by the 15 gsme mark, Casey deserves to have his rep as a defensive coach smeared snd pretty much fired.

 

[mcleex]

Looks like this off-season had a huge focus on bolstering our defense for next season

 

[mcleex]

Any idea what time the press conference today will be? Apparently there are 2

 

[Mach85]

Dramatization of what it's like to have contract discussions with DeAndre Jordan:

 

[Budsfan]

Live presser

http://www.nba.com/raptors/live

 

[mcleex]

Sherman Hamilton is so ****ing annoying. He rambles on just **** already

 

[hockeywiz542]

 

[Clark4Ever]

I think all of the UFA signings have definitely improved our defensive presence. Hopefully it will be enough to offset the offense we lost this off season.

 

[Mach85]

I think all of the UFA signings have definitely improved our defensive presence. Hopefully it will be enough to offset the offense we lost this off season.

Ross is probably in a better role coming off the bench, and JV still has room to grow offensively. Hopefully those two will fill the void.

 

[topched]

I think all of the UFA signings have definitely improved our defensive presence. Hopefully it will be enough to offset the offense we lost this off season.

The thing is it's not like we went out and brought in a bunch of guys who can't play on one side of the ball.

Carroll, Joseph and Scola are all very efficient offensive players. They're not necessarily guys who can create their own shots, but the willingness to play hero ball last year is what ended up being our demise.


Getting WAY more defensive stops will allow us to score a ton of easy buckets in transition rather than the run down the clock ISO for Lou crap that killed us. We should have an elite defense this year with a highly cohesive and efficient offense. We're not going to score teams into submission last year, but we won't see the madding blow bys and should be able to absolutely stifle teams

 

[KapG]

My problems with JJ are:
- He reaches and gambles far too much on defense. It is ungodly frustrating when he picks up ticky-tack fouls in the backcourt for trying to do too much. Just stay in front of your man, is that too much to ask? When he plays with his hands up and moving his feet, he locks down pretty much anybody with his athleticism. But the gambling bites him.
- Jumpers. Just don't. You're wide open for a reason. He was a LOT more efficient last year and could finish inside, so the chucking is definitely far down from what it used to be.
- Turnovers. Trying to be too fine with passes and having no handles really hurts him in this regard. Last year, he passed a lot more, but aldo turned over a ton just because he tried to be cute. Not to mention constantly stripped due to his bad handles.

I do think him getting benched in the playoffs reslly aided in our sievery on D. Did us no favors. I mean right now, we have the following defensive prognostication:

PG
Lowry: Gambles FAR too much. STOP. ****ING. REACHING. There's a reason virtually every PG that faced us last year went off against us, even scrubs like Augustin.
Joseph: Good defender (replaces General Sievus Trashquez... no comment)
Wright: Pretty much his strongest asset, D is.

SG
DeMar: Solid fundementals. Exactly average defensively.
Ross: Garbage. Especially off the ball where he's too lazy to bother actually fighting through screens and not losing his man. Lou was a sieve too defensively, so I guess it's better.

SF
Carroll: Great defender. Probably our best in this regard. Pushing Ross to a spot he's more comfortable defrnsively likely.
JJ: See above. Our best defender AINEC when he has his head on straight.

PF
Patterson: Good on the help, but he gets abused down low. Also can't grab a rebound.
Scola: Solid defender all around and rebounds. Doesn't really stand out in any way, though. Downgrade from Amir in that regard, except for his ankles.

C
JV: Very good rim protector, bad help D. Grest rebounder. Overall, above aberage to good.
Biyombo: Our best interior defender by far. Huge upgrade over Hansbrough.

If we aren't a top 10 defrnsive team by the 15 gsme mark, Casey deserves to have his rep as a defensive coach smeared snd pretty much fired.

Listen, I get I'm a bit more down on demar than some here but how do you not mention that he is a pretty brutal shooter while mentioning every other players pros/cons.

He's a slasher who can get to the line but imagine how much better he would be if he could shoot?

 

[KapG]

Ross is probably in a better role coming off the bench, and JV still has room to grow offensively. Hopefully those two will fill the void.

If JV is going to take the next step Casey bneeds to let him play this year.

He's been micromanaged far too much by Casey so far in his career.

 

[Swervin81]

Listen, I get I'm a bit more down on demar than some here but how do you not mention that he is a pretty brutal shooter while mentioning every other players pros/cons.

He's a slasher who can get to the line but imagine how much better he would be if he could shoot?

Lol I was just talking about each player purely from a defense standpoint.

 

[Bloomberg]

Where do people see the raps finishing next year? There's the cavs, Bulls, Wizards, there's the young bucks team and a healthy heat team. There Indiana with a heathy Paul George and there are up and coming teams in Boston and Orlando. I get we will play the Knicks and nets for easy wins, so anywhere from 5-7 in the conference?

Edit" Forgot to add the hawks

 

[topched]

If JV is going to take the next step Casey bneeds to let him play this year.

He's been micromanaged far too much by Casey so far in his career.

Agree with this completely. Take the kid gloves off JV and let him play.

I think Biyombos offensive limitations and no Amir to log time at C will force Caseys hand a bit. And to be fair JV needs to up his consistency, make sure he's ready defensively right from the start and not picking up bad fouls early in games.

The less hero ball offense and no more blow bys on the perimete should allow JV to get involved more and I think he's gonna go from good to great this year

 

[KapG]

Lol I was just talking about each player purely from a defense standpoint.

Woops!!

My bad buddy, lol.

Reading back over it now I can see thst.

 

[topched]

Where do people see the raps finishing next year? There's the cavs, Bulls, Wizards, there's the young bucks team and a healthy heat team. There Indiana with a heathy Paul George and there are up and coming teams in Boston and Orlando. I get we will play the Knicks and nets for easy wins, so anywhere from 5-7 in the conference?

I don't see anyone in the Atlantic challenging us again. Boston is going to be better but not enough to compete. We'll finish top 4 for sure and are definitely in that group challenging for 2nd in the conference behind the Cavs.

Bulls are there obvious favourite to finish 2nd but in not confident in their ability to stay healthy

 

[Amadeus]

I can dig the Scola addition. Smart player.

 

[Swervin81]

I don't see anyone in the Atlantic challenging us again. Boston is going to be better but not enough to compete. We'll finish top 4 for sure and are definitely in that group challenging for 2nd in the conference behind the Cavs.

Bulls are there obvious favourite to finish 2nd but in not confident in their ability to stay healthy

This is when the Bulls start to show big cracks. Have to sacrifice tons of depth to max Butler, and their core sucks compared to a true contender. The Hawks just lost Carroll too. The Wiz lost Pierce. The Heat get Bosh back but have nothing at all on the bench and even one injury blows a gigantic hole. The Pacers are getting a healthy George back and the Bucks are trending up.

Cavs
Hawks
Bulls
Raps
Bucks
Pacers
Wizards
Heat

That's what I predict.

 

[Radiohead]

I don't see anyone in the Atlantic challenging us again. Boston is going to be better but not enough to compete. We'll finish top 4 for sure and are definitely in that group challenging for 2nd in the conference behind the Cavs.

Bulls are there obvious favourite to finish 2nd but in not confident in their ability to stay healthy

Remember, the NBA is getting rid of the "division winner" rule starting next season. Standings will be based purely off team record from now on.The Raps will probably still be around the 4-6 spot though.

Divisions will remain intact for geographical purposes most likely.