Raptors Discussion: v77| Season of Kawhi III: No Kawhi, no problem -or- the death & rebirth of Kyle Lowry

[stickty111]

Teams just sag off on OG. He’s an offensive liability

You could make the argument he cost them the game.
How many open shots did he have? 5?

 

[Glenn Isildur Healy]

You could make the argument he cost them the game.
How many open shots did he have? 5?

Yup. I mentioned that we needed a big game from him and he was the complete opposite

Absolute dreadful. Can't hit free throws, can't hit open 3s, can't drive....

 

[stickty111]

We played a solid game considering the players that were out, but again missing shots was the problem.

 

[Suntouchable13]

We played a solid game considering the players that were out, but again missing shots was the problem.

They were up 9 late in the 3rd before they had to sub in the scrubs. Missing so many key guys really hurt. We probably win this game going away even if only Lowry and FVV played out of all those guys.

 

[Glenn Isildur Healy]

We played a solid game considering the players that were out, but again missing shots was the problem.

Kawhi, Green, Delon and Ibaka were good to very good today
We just needed someone else to step up. Unfortunately that didn't happen

 

[Glenn Isildur Healy]

I think what's been shown this season is that we need 3+D wing off the bench

CJ Miles is not a 3 nor a D
OG is average defensively and doesn't offer anything else
We haven't seen enough of Powell but I wouldn't put all my marbles on him being that

 

[hockeywiz542]

“They can’t change the geography, they can’t change the weather in Toronto, those were always going to be things against them in this."

“Home in LA has been the focus for Kawhi through all of this. It becomes harder with a player who has already won a championship, who is thinking of quality of life and where he wants to be. "

“Maybe his best chance to win is in Toronto but it may not be his No 1 priority."

“Toronto knew all season that they would be coming from behind and that the case they made wouldn’t be by Thanksgiving or Christmas or by the trade deadline, it would be June, into late June and having that place, and winning, grow on him."

“Of course they can offer him more money than anybody else but so could the Spurs and he couldn’t get out of there fast enough. He didn’t stay for the money."

“Masai Ujiri made this deal knowing that even if he kept DeMar DeRozan, the way the contracts line up with, they probably would turn this roster over in a big way after this season if they didn’t advance."

“The thought all along was, ‘Roll the dice with Kawhi, we can’t get a player like this in free agency. We’ll trade for him, we’ve got a year to sell him on it. If we don’t, we’ve got a very good young core, [Pascal] Siakam, [OG] Anunoby, [Fred] VanVleet’ and they’ll rebuild around them."

“Then Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka, in the final years of their deals, will probably be moved somewhere else and they will try and get some assets back."

“I think they were going to do that this year anyway if they didn’t win this year, ‘So let’s try to make a run with Kawhi’. The one thing they knew, they weren’t good enough with DeRozan.”

 

[TheMadHatTrick]

You could make the argument he cost them the game.
How many open shots did he have? 5?

I like OG a lot and think he'll be a good player eventually, but we'll struggle to make it past the second round with him as our primary wing off the bench. His shooting is awful right now and his handle isn't good enough for him to take it to the rim.

If he wants to help us win he's going to have to reinvent himself for now as an energy wing by crashing the glass and cutting to the rim. You can't have a guy shooting 8 there's a game at a below 30% success rate.

 

[TheMadHatTrick]

I think what's been shown this season is that we need 3+D wing off the bench

CJ Miles is not a 3 nor a D
OG is average defensively and doesn't offer anything else
We haven't seen enough of Powell but I wouldn't put all my marbles on him being that

Ariza was the perfect guy to target. I don't know who else we could get now.

 

[BorntoLose]

Nurse taking a fine looks like, mad about officiating on Kawhi

 

[Glenn Isildur Healy]

Ariza was the perfect guy to target. I don't know who else we could get now.

I'm on the Justin Holiday bandwagon

He's 29 (so shouldn't be part of their future), plays on the lowly Bulls and has a 4 million expiring contract

A very good wing defender (like his brother), shooting 38% from 3 (2.9/7.5 so not a low usage shooter) and a TS% of .558. He might be 6'6 and a bit undersized but has a 7'0 Wingspan

 

[ponder]

Too many injuries to get it done tonight. Lowry, Siakam, JV, FVV, those are serious losses. Had to play a lot of weak players too many minutes tonight, made it very hard to win.

With that being said, we ALSO need to beef up the bench. Miles is awful this year, shouldn’t be playing any minutes outside garbage time. OG has been great defensively but very weak offensively. And Delon has been pretty hit and miss. Our starters almost always outplay the opposing starters, but our bench generally get torched. If we can pick up a solid bench forward, and not have to play Miles at all, that’d be a big help.

 

[stickty111]

About time the officials were called out. We didnt lose because of them today but Leonard gets hit a lot but isnt getting many calls.

 

[Glenn Isildur Healy]

About time the officials were called out. We didnt lose because of them today but Leonard gets hit a lot but isnt getting many calls.

Good for Nurse for defending his star player!
Maybe Kawhi doesn't get foul calls because he doesn't flail his arms like he's doing the backstroke every time he drives to the rim

 

[The Nemesis]

Good for Nurse for defending his star player!
Maybe Kawhi doesn't get foul calls because he doesn't flail his arms like he's doing the backstroke every time he drives to the rim

Or making a face like this whenever someone breathes on him

You'd think the ref just told him there's no Santa Claus

 

[Clark4Ever]

Kawhi got shafted by the refs, but we missed so many open looks that we should have won anyway.

 

[hockeywiz542]

 

[Suntouchable13]

The media really like to spread "panic" among people. "Toronto can not change geography" "Kawhi wants to go home to LA". Bottom line is that, nobody knows shit. Even if they pretend they do. There is still plenty of time for Kawhi to really love Toronto and maybe he already does? We don't know.

 

[Glenn Isildur Healy]

The media really like to spread "panic" among people. "Toronto can not change geography" "Kawhi wants to go home to LA". Bottom line is that, nobody knows ****. Even if they pretend they do. There is still plenty of time for Kawhi to really love Toronto and maybe he already does? We don't know.

Unless I hear something from Kawhi’s mouth or something from the Raptors organization, everything is poo poo to me

 

[ponder]

Good for Nurse for defending his star player!
Maybe Kawhi doesn't get foul calls because he doesn't flail his arms like he's doing the backstroke every time he drives to the rim

Relevant Shane Battier quote:

"The unfortunate thing about the block/charge is that I've had many, many times where a ref told me that you have to go to the floor to get the call. By the letter of the law, I've taken a hit, but I've stood on my feet. Even though I've gotten nailed, the ref calls it a no-call. I say, 'Ref, what's wrong with that?' He says, 'You have to go down to get the call.'

"Inherently, there's something wrong with that."

Of course we aren’t talking about block/charge here, but the ref’s mentality is the same. I mean, assuming Battier isn’t straight up lying, refs are literally telling players that you must embellish to get calls. Kawhi doesn’t embellish.

 

[Muston Atthews]

Anyone sell Raptors tickets on here? Looking for a weekend game in January/February. It’s so tough too. I really want to see Kawhi and I’ll be pretty upset if I buy tickets and it’s his night off lol

 

[Glenn Isildur Healy]

 

[hockeywiz542]

Murphy Mailbag: Lowry's importance, trade scenarios, chicken...

I think they’ll be active on the market, for sure. There’s not an immediate rush. Right now, they have about seven weeks to work Norman Powell back in and see how he looks, to see if OG Anunoby can correct his course in his second year, and to see if C.J. Miles can find his form. Realistically, only one of those players needs to play well enough to be trusted in a playoff rotation that will probably be capped at nine players most nights. If any start to find their groove again, the urgency to stabilize the wing depth will decrease.

At the same time, you don’t go all-in for a player like Leonard and spend deep into the tax and then not look at any possible area to improve. What makes it hard to figure specific players right now is that there are probably only five teams that consider themselves truly out of the race, and they’ve already been picked over a bit on the early market. Over the next month, a few more teams should find themselves in a position where selling makes sense.

Assuming no star becomes available at a depressed price, the type of guy I think you’re looking at is a Wayne Ellington or Anthony Tolliver, good vets on mid-sized deals that might be available if their teams slide and the Raptors are willing to attach a pick to someone. In some cases, the salaries might be such that Miles has to be the outbound piece, which would mean a better asset being attached since he has a player option for next year (I don’t think anyone will take Powell until he’s reestablished his health, as he’s owed a lot of long-term money). In terms of the buyout market, I know Robin Lopez is a name that Eric Koreen has identified as a potential best-case depth add, though he’d have plenty of suitors if he’s freed from Chicago. It’s probably a little early to be thinking buyout market, even if one semi-attractive name in Austin Rivers is already out there (I don’t necessarily think he’s a fit but if he’s your sixth rotation guard, you’re in good shape).

 

[The Nemesis]

https://www.tsn.ca/nba-fines-nurse-15k-for-criticizing-refs-over-calls-for-kawhi-1.1228358



Nurse signed $15k for telling the refs to do their damn jobs.

 

[RayzorIsDull]

Good for Nurse for defending his star player!
Maybe Kawhi doesn't get foul calls because he doesn't flail his arms like he's doing the backstroke every time he drives to the rim

Kawhi does get to the line plenty of times, obviously not enough for Nurse's liking in that game but Kawhi gets to the line a lot. He's 12th in FT rate, 19th in usage rate the only player who has a lower usage rate and a higher FT rate is Anthony Davis. Kawhi is also 9th in the NBA in FTA per game.