Everything (2016-2017) Regular Season Game Threads

[danno]

PJ said in the post-game that he and Serge didn't know any of the plays last night.... they were just playing off instinct. Maybe the problems start when they actually learn the "the system". lol.

PJ to DC: "Coach, could you explain again what you mean by pound the rock?"

[golden]

PJ to DC: "Coach, could you explain again what you mean by pound the rock?"

PJ: Got it, coach.

[Just Is]

Funny how you love Casey and think Stevens is overrated. Other way around actually. Casey is a mediocre coach coaching a good roster, and Stevens is a good coach coaching a mediocre roster. I mean they only have one star player and are the 2nd seed. Plus this is only his 4th season coaching.

I think the praise for Stevens instead of Casey is why he has such a strong hate for the guy.

Like I hate Boston but you can't deny Stevens has been massively overachieving with that roster for years now.

[white men can't jump]

PJ said in the post-game that he and Serge didn't know any of the plays last night.... they were just playing off instinct. Maybe the problems start when they actually learn the "the system". lol.

I've repeatedly said that I feel like after trades, we play better than, say, the next season when the same guys actually go through training camp.

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[Just Is]

I've repeatedly said that I feel like after trades, we play better than, say, the next season when the same guys actually go through training camp.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

It's been a consistent pattern.

[A.I]

It's been a consistent pattern.

Time to let the players coach. Let Lowry be the leader/handle the offense and let Tucker and Ibaka handle the defense.

[JamesNaismith]

LOL this post made me chuckle.....

What are you even talking about? 2014-15.....Remember Lowry broke down, Demar coming back from a major injury, Lou Will's shot falling off a cliff in the playoffs, Vasquez's defense, JV's foul trouble, etc, etc.....Masai said he deserved the blame for it and finally gave Casey defensive players that better fit his system and we made it to the East Finals the very next year!

Every coach deserves players that fit their system. The Casey haters always end up looking silly because when he gets players that fit his system, the team excels. Deja Vu?

While I can obviously agree that its beneficial to get players that fit your coaching style that doesnt change that he would constantly make poor rotations of the players he did have or keep them accountable..

ie. DeMar and Carroll on defence...these 2 game after game allow their man to blow by them. DeRozan gives poor effort and Carroll is making rookie like mistakes pretty much every play. A good coach ala Pops would DEMAND better effort from DeMar and while he may never become an excellent defender, playing at a low intensity and giving up on plays easily wouldnt happen and as a result he would at least be an ok defender (see Parker and Manu). Carroll is mindboggling bad and it is from a simple stupid mistake he seems to do almost every time down court...he SAGS off his man as if he is going to help but doesnt actually do so...

The result he is caught in no mans land in the defence, stuck in a pocket. The man he is sagging off of has a wide open lane or jump shot, the other guy he is half assed coming to help on sees him a few feet away and throws the ball over to his man and they get a blow by or wide open jump shot. Seriously....go watch, it happens over and over. I literally post almost a dozen times in a game thread how DCs man has a wide open shot or a blow by. Very simple coaching would be to tell him to stop sagging and just stay on his man as he isnt trapping them and its creating the defence to collapse and break down. But there is no accountability for some players which plays into his rotations.

Powell or JV could be playing incredibly well make a mistake and you wont see them for extremely long stretches or some times even come back at all. While sure I dont expect you to bench your best scorer at least take him to task for not giving more effort defensively and sit Carrolls ass down, his effect offensively cant possibly outweigh the damage he allows defensively and it has to be deflating to the team. There are countless times he leaves whatever player in our rotation on the court too long when they are getting killed (ie Bebe rebounding or maybe Corey is forcing his offence) and lets us get into ruts.

Then of course there is the offence...which really isnt an offence...it is a single high PnR, for crying out loud have some creativity. JV is completely underutilized game in and game out. There is simply NO REASON why we cant draw up some plays to get him going offensively and make teams more honest against our perimeter. He has had YEARS to recognize that and then MANY times when JV gets hot we bench, dont go back to him or he just doesnt get back on court...its ridiculous. Of course now Ibaka should off set some of our defencies in the PnR because he will be able to make more shots in place of Pat but it doesnt change we could be that much better if our coach LEARNED how to use the pieces he has, thats what good coaches do.

Anyways Im done my ranting but I dont let Casey off the hook because he was trying to force a square through a circle. He is the one that needs to understand and use the pieces he has to work properly. Yes ideally every coach would love a roster that fit what they are trying to do and obviously the team will look improved when they do but a team would be that much better if a coach learned how to make ADJUSTMENTS to their system that adapt to the roster they have and also hold ALL players ACCOUNTABLE to do so. I just imagine how much better this team would be if we actually punished them in the post with Val and stopped allowing the terrible effort from DD and DC defensively....we would go from being good to great and that is on the coach.

[JawsGT]

I am mainly talking about this season and last season. Although I wouldn't say the Raptors were much better than the Wizards in 2014-2015, Casey got significantly outcoached by Randy Wittman. Seasons before that, the Raptors didn't have a great roster, and Lowry and Demar were still improving, so I don't give Casey any faults for that.

Also you can't be a good coach and have the team defense collapse after loss of 3 role players and an assistant coach.

well I'd disagree with that. But my point was that when many considered our roster to be mediocre, we were well on our way to becoming one of the best teams in the east. Overachieving could have been a term used to describe it. The same can be said of BOS. But their roster is far from mediocre, and they have numerous players that are improving. In some ways, similar to the experience the Raps have had in recent years. Who deserves the most credit, players or coaches is debatable in both cases. Ultimately, Casey got a so called mediocre roster playing well enough to be near the top of the east, Stevens has done the same. If you want to suggest that Stevens is the better coach because his present roster is not as good as Caseys present roster, then so be it. I'm not arguing on that point.

[big boi]

So what do you do when Lowry gets back and you have 2 sieves guarding the point of attack?

Lowry can play decent d when he gets dialed in. He gambles a bit, but I think he is substantially better on d than DD and he typically would guard the quickest player.

[rocwell]

Time to let the players coach. Let Lowry be the leader/handle the offense and let Tucker and Ibaka handle the defense.

I strongly disagree with this.

[Jangles]

Preach James.

[A.I]

I strongly disagree with this.

Lol wasn't actually serious.

[rocwell]

Lol wasn't actually serious.

Fair enough. Still, I hope Masai holds DC accountable. He made quite a few critical mistakes just before the all star break.

[JawsGT]

To be fair, the prevailing wisdom was that we'd lose Lowry in 2014 free agency, and as such he should be dealt and a rebuild started.

well I'm not sure I'd agree with that dan, but I don't want to rehash old arguments. None of the players back then were thought to be all that great, and no one expected some of these guys to be as good as they are now. But Casey got them playing really well, that's all I'm trying to say. He probably got as much out his roster a few years ago as Stevens has gotten out of his the last couple of seasons. And players get better, teams get better. We've seen it on both teams. All coaches look better with better players, whether they be different players or improving players.

[golden]

well I'm not sure I'd agree with that dan, but I don't want to rehash old arguments. None of the players back then were thought to be all that great, and no one expected some of these guys to be as good as they are now. But Casey got them playing really well, that's all I'm trying to say. He probably got as much out his roster a few years ago as Stevens has gotten out of his the last couple of seasons. And players get better, teams get better. We've seen it on both teams. All coaches look better with better players, whether they be different players or improving players.

Let's stop revising history here. This incarnation of the Raps got better when Lowry grew up and stopped fighting Casey. And that was due to Masai and Chauncey Billups, and in spite of Casey. . That's all documented and part of Raptor folklore now. In fact, we traded what was thought at the time to be our most talented player (Rudy Gay), who looked worse on the Raps than at any time in his career. Saying that "Casey got them playing well..." is a huge disservice to Masai and Lowry.

And more importantly, Lowry still doesn't respect Casey (according to Tom Sterner). He likes him, but clearly doesn't respect him as a coach. That's not some RR poster questioning Casey, it's the best player on the team, which speaks volumes.