How is this squad a downgrade?

[Bonus Jonas]

This season a JV injury would be devastating to the team I think.

How confident are we with Sully/Yak/Bebe starting?

[Hotshot]

Its not a downgrade but isn't significantly better then it was.

[lewro]

One positive I would like to see is Casey with a contract so he rests guys and develops young guys.

[iblastoff]

Now you're being facetious. Of course there are no asterisks next to wins. You're well within your rights to #WellActually everything I pointed out, but it's still a lot that has to break in the Raptors favour. That's all I'm saying.

i literally pointed out multiple reasons how nothing was really in the raptors favour at all, in comparison to pretty much what any other nba team has to endure / luck out on. but sure if all you want to do is to just say a bunch of stuff to yourself then thats fine.

[Hotshot]

One positive I would like to see is Casey with a contract so he rests guys and develops young guys.

Casey can still get fired so it ain't going to happen.

[DanH]

This season a JV injury would be devastating to the team I think.

How confident are we with Sully/Yak/Bebe starting?

With Sully here the damage is reduced significantly. But yeah, still our position of least depth (even PF we can roll out small ball lineups if need be).

[LJ2]

I don't think this squad is a downgrade, but I think some other teams in the East and specifically in the Atlantic division got better. We are 3 time division champs, so there is a bit of a target on our backs now and we should be getting the other teams best efforts most nights.

If there was anything I could point the finger at for this season that I might be concerned about, it would be that we are putting the defence in the hands of a less experienced group this year (barring a trade between now and opener). Defence is one of those things that I think requires some vets to help run and keep the ship steady. Biz and JJ were specialists in that area so I think that will be missed because they were both great at covering up for others. Continuity does help with that regard though so lets see how seamless the transition of new players are into the defence.

[Mess]

We might not win 56 games again but that won't mean it's a downgrade. And I wouldn't be super upset about that. Lowry and DD playing 37 minutes a game, sure...first round exit, you betcha...3rd-4th seed, that's fine.

[mjt20mik]

With Sully here the damage is reduced significantly. But yeah, still our position of least depth (even PF we can roll out small ball lineups if need be).

I think that is the plan.

C injury - Start Pat Sully
PF injury - Move Carroll to the 4
SF injury - Start Powell
SG injury - Start Powell
Pg injury - Start Joseph and bring Wright

[Bonus Jonas]

With Sully here the damage is reduced significantly. But yeah, still our position of least depth (even PF we can roll out small ball lineups if need be).

Of course it's reduced but I'd still like to see a trade done. If JV goes down, we're relying on a starting duo of PPat and Sully which doesn't sound terrible until you realize our bench bigs rotation would be playing Carroll very heavy minutes, 2 unproven rookies and a third year player who may as well be a rookie.

Not sure why Masai didn't resign JJ to a 1 year deal as if would've alleviated that stress a bit and also gives us added insurance at the 3.

[ebrian]

I think a lot went right for us to get to the ECF, whereas I think the regular season we can actually get better. Stats-wise anyway. In terms of equalling or bettering the 56 wins really has more to do with how other teams' signings and trades go; how they mesh with their new players and in some case, if it even works. Sometimes you sign a guy with good numbers and you end up getting worse. No way to really know how each traded or signed player will impact their team until they hit the floor.

I saw some odd-makers putting us third most likely to win the East, Cleveland obviously at the top but with Boston a 10-1 favorite to win and us only at 18-1. That seemed like a bigger gap than I would have given. I just don't know about that. Regular season-wise, we lost 20-something games of JV with his hand injury, and went more than half the season without Carroll. I think we can get better. We had 8 games on Boston and now with Horford they have nearly double chance of winning the East than us? I don't think so.

Horford posted career lows in scoring and rebounding last year. Age wise he could be hitting his prime, but he's also had a rash of injuries. His best year was 4 years ago. Boston also operated largely without their C getting a ton of touches, and now with Horford he'll be getting a lot. That changes the dynamics of their offense. Let's see how that goes, I'm sure they will look good early on but when things settle down and some guys start to wish they could handle the ball more... I guess we'll see.

Moving forward, in the playoffs some have mentioned we got lucky and I tend to agree. Indiana was just a one-man team and they're much better now. Paul George has some help. And Miami again with Bosh out and then Whiteside, that was some great fortune for us.

[SkywalkerAC]

With Sully here the damage is reduced significantly. But yeah, still our position of least depth (even PF we can roll out small ball lineups if need be).

Weren't most here against drafting Jak because we didn't have much need at the 5? We currently have 3 7-footers and 2 smallball 5s. I'm seeing quite the opposite of depth issues there.

[Bonus Jonas]

Weren't most here against drafting Jak because we didn't have much need at the 5? We currently have 3 7-footers and 2 smallball 5s. I'm seeing quite the opposite of depth issues there.

Most people agree relying on Yak/Bebe/Pascal isn't a good idea. If they happen to play well enough and earn a role great, but you can't go into the season expecting them to have heavy roles.

[DanH]

Weren't most here against drafting Jak because we didn't have much need at the 5? We currently have 3 7-footers and 2 smallball 5s. I'm seeing quite the opposite of depth issues there.

Let's say, position of least proven depth.

The overlap in youth at one position was a concern for some, but it is not really relevant to the concern of having reliable backups/injury replacements at a position.

[DanH]

Of course it's reduced but I'd still like to see a trade done. If JV goes down, we're relying on a starting duo of PPat and Sully which doesn't sound terrible until you realize our bench bigs rotation would be playing Carroll very heavy minutes, 2 unproven rookies and a third year player who may as well be a rookie.

Not sure why Masai didn't resign JJ to a 1 year deal as if would've alleviated that stress a bit and also gives us added insurance at the 3.

Signing JJ to a one year deal would have been difficult. One the size of what he got from MIA, impossible (if you are using the MLE on Sully). Have to give at least 2 years if you are using Early Bird rights.