Where Do The Raptors Rank In The East?

[Demographic Shift]

Back from the Great White North and with nothing on late night TV except for some pretty bad Jays baseball I watched and relived the glory of the playoff run to the championship. So heres the thought.....Can the Bucks overcome the loss of Malcom Brogdon ?

If you watch the Raps vs Bucks you could say with plausible deniability that Middelton is the Bucks Derozan. When it mattered.. really mattered Middelton was inconsistent at best. The playoffs are cruel and they exposed the Alphabets lack of a jump shot. Its a copycat league and that didn't go unnoticed.

However the most consistent thorn in the Raps side was one Malcom Brogdon. He hit 3's and he drove to the basket at a rate that had most raps fans muttering "I hate you" at a rate like no other player...

And the Deer have not come close to replacing that production under pressure at all. They gave the keys to Bledsoe who caves in the PO. Rozier ate his lunch prior to last season and this year Fred and Kyle and Danny made him look bad. As backup they have Hill who is not the player Brogdon is.

So.. are the Bucks more vulnerable than most think ?

[G__Deane]

Back from the Great White North and with nothing on late night TV except for some pretty bad Jays baseball I watched and relived the glory of the playoff run to the championship. So heres the thought.....Can the Bucks overcome the loss of Malcom Brogdon ?

If you watch the Raps vs Bucks you could say with plausible deniability that Middelton is the Bucks Derozan. When it mattered.. really mattered Middelton was inconsistent at best. The playoffs are cruel and they exposed the Alphabets lack of a jump shot. Its a copycat league and that didn't go unnoticed.

However the most consistent thorn in the Raps side was one Malcom Brogdon. He hit 3's and he drove to the basket at a rate that had most raps fans muttering "I hate you" at a rate like no other player...

And the Deer have not come close to replacing that production under pressure at all. They gave the keys to Bledsoe who caves in the PO. Rozier ate his lunch prior to last season and this year Fred and Kyle and Danny made him look bad. As backup they have Hill who is not the player Brogdon is.

So.. are the Bucks more vulnerable than most think ?

Could be the year that the Sixers take the East if they can stay healthy.
Could be the year that the Celtics come through, minus Kyrie again.
Til then, the Bucks are the team to beat and as much as Giannis may have been partially figured out, he knows that and has gotten better every year so no reason to believe he won't again and he's one of those rare players that make others around him better.

It's gonna be a dogfight in the East this year, one that the Raps will likely stay on the fringes of and hope to avoid a poor first round match up.

[planetmars]

I don't think the East is as top heavy as last year.. especially with Kawhi gone and Durant needing a year.

Bucks are the same team but lost Brogdon who was their best bench player. That team won 60 games.. maybe they win 58 or 59 with a weakened East? Still good enough I think to win the conference. Giannis will probably win B2B MVP's. He's that good.

After them, it's a toss up. Philly, Toronto, Boston, Indiana, Orlando, Miami, Brooklyn and Detroit will all be in the mix 2-9. I think Chicago and Atlanta might surprise people too. They both have some really good young talent.

I think Philly's lack of shooting will hurt them. Embiid/Simmons are great at finding an open shooter. They have nobody that can really shoot though. Losing JJ was a bigger loss for them than losing Jimmy. I love Horford, and he's going to help when Embiid is taking a load day or sitting, but the twin tower thing doesn't really work in the NBA anymore, and both bigs are inconsistent shooters.

Yet this is just regular season talk. Playoffs are a different beast and it's all about match ups. Hope Raptors face a team like Orlando again. Even without Kawhi I think we can beat them. They still have Vuc and we still have Marc.

[KeonClark]

I don't think the East is as top heavy as last year.. especially with Kawhi gone and Durant needing a year.

Bucks are the same team but lost Brogdon who was their best bench player. That team won 60 games.. maybe they win 58 or 59 with a weakened East? Still good enough I think to win the conference. Giannis will probably win B2B MVP's. He's that good.

After them, it's a toss up. Philly, Toronto, Boston, Indiana, Orlando, Miami, Brooklyn and Detroit will all be in the mix 2-9. I think Chicago and Atlanta might surprise people too. They both have some really good young talent.

I think Philly's lack of shooting will hurt them. Embiid/Simmons are great at finding an open shooter. They have nobody that can really shoot though. Losing JJ was a bigger loss for them than losing Jimmy. I love Horford, and he's going to help when Embiid is taking a load day or sitting, but the twin tower thing doesn't really work in the NBA anymore, and both bigs are inconsistent shooters.

Yet this is just regular season talk. Playoffs are a different beast and it's all about match ups. Hope Raptors face a team like Orlando again. Even without Kawhi I think we can beat them. They still have Vuc and we still have Marc.

I think Detroit stands out like a sore thumb in that 2-9 group. Orlando, miami, Brooklyn, their lower bracket friends last year, all got demonstrably better. And as you said Atlanta and Chicago are coming up the rear view, Detroit is in tough to make any noise at all. Take away blake griffin and they might be the worst team.in the league.

[G__Deane]

https://clutchpoints.com/atlantic-di...019-20-season/

The Atlantic Division provided four of the eight teams in the NBA Eastern Conference Playoffs last season. That’s a powerful statement they made, and what has exactly changed for this upcoming year? Kawhi Leonard is gone but the Toronto Raptors may have just enough talent to grab the 8th seed.

What the hell?

[G__Deane]

Jeremy Lin officially signs with Beijing Ducks

KInd of funny and bizarre that Beijing is also known as Peking .... Ducks

[Demographic Shift]

Could be the year that the Sixers take the East if they can stay healthy.
Could be the year that the Celtics come through, minus Kyrie again.
Til then, the Bucks are the team to beat and as much as Giannis may have been partially figured out, he knows that and has gotten better every year so no reason to believe he won't again and he's one of those rare players that make others around him better.

It's gonna be a dogfight in the East this year, one that the Raps will likely stay on the fringes of and hope to avoid a poor first round match up.

As long as they can finish higher than 7th the first round matchup from this corner of the world shouldn't pose an issue for the defending NBA Champions. I will never tire of writing those two words... NBA Champions.

A lot of woulda coulda shouldas would have to roll the raps way but its not completely out of the realm to see them get to the ECF again.

To get there they in all likelihood draw one of the Hinkies or Bucks in the second round.
AND
If I had to pick my poison between Philly and the Deer in the second round to get to the finals again....I would grudgingly and re think it a hundred times but I would choose the Brogdon-less Deer.

[LJ2]

I don't think the East is as top heavy as last year.. especially with Kawhi gone and Durant needing a year.

Bucks are the same team but lost Brogdon who was their best bench player. That team won 60 games.. maybe they win 58 or 59 with a weakened East? Still good enough I think to win the conference. Giannis will probably win B2B MVP's. He's that good.

After them, it's a toss up. Philly, Toronto, Boston, Indiana, Orlando, Miami, Brooklyn and Detroit will all be in the mix 2-9. I think Chicago and Atlanta might surprise people too. They both have some really good young talent.

I think Philly's lack of shooting will hurt them. Embiid/Simmons are great at finding an open shooter. They have nobody that can really shoot though. Losing JJ was a bigger loss for them than losing Jimmy. I love Horford, and he's going to help when Embiid is taking a load day or sitting, but the twin tower thing doesn't really work in the NBA anymore, and both bigs are inconsistent shooters.

Yet this is just regular season talk. Playoffs are a different beast and it's all about match ups. Hope Raptors face a team like Orlando again. Even without Kawhi I think we can beat them. They still have Vuc and we still have Marc.

I actually think the East will be tougher this season, and not just for the Raptors.

Boston I think will be better without Kyrie and the locker room drama.
Brooklyn will be better with Kyrie
Indiana were already really good and got better
Miami improved
Orlando stayed the same but were one of those young teams you'd expect to improve internally more than a vet team
Philly lost some shooting but got deeper and way, way better defensively
Atlanta might surprise some teams because they just have so much young talent

More than anything else I think teams are just better and focusing more on defense right now. Philly, Boston, Idiana, Miami and Orlando are going to be teams you have to grind out wins against in the playoffs.

[planetmars]

I actually think the East will be tougher this season, and not just for the Raptors.

Boston I think will be better without Kyrie and the locker room drama.
Brooklyn will be better with Kyrie
Indiana were already really good and got better
Miami improved
Orlando stayed the same but were one of those young teams you'd expect to improve internally more than a vet team
Philly lost some shooting but got deeper and way, way better defensively
Atlanta might surprise some teams because they just have so much young talent

More than anything else I think teams are just better and focusing more on defense right now. Philly, Boston, Idiana, Miami and Orlando are going to be teams you have to grind out wins against in the playoffs.

You still need star talent to succeed in the playoffs. Boston's best player is Kemba.. who has struggled to just get to the playoffs (reminds me of Bosh's Raptors). Losing Horford was really big for them.

Indiana still won't have Dipo for part of the season. Reason they had a good record last year was because of Dipo.. when he went down, they became a mediocre team, and got swept by the Celtics who almost got swept themselves (well they kind of did as they lost 4 straight after taking game 1).

Miami improved with Jimmy. They have a guy that can carry the team.. but Jimmy is not a top 5 player. He's more of a top 15 player. They may win round 1, but I don't see them getting to round 2.

I really like Orlando. I think they improve a bit. They had a great second half to the season last year, and are still really young. I have them as a top 4 team.

Not convinced Brooklyn will be a lot better. Kyrie is better than D'Angelo.. but the team outside of Durant is still pretty meh. Jordan is way past his prime.

But yeah it can be a dog fight in the playoffs. A lot more parity since there aren't as many stars in the East. Only guys are Giannis and Embiid. And Embiid is usually always hurt.

[LJ2]

It's year number 3 for Brown and Tatum, over in Boston. The year when young players are supposed to take the big step forward, so we will see. I think Boston returns to form this season.

I don't expect Miami or Orlando to be a top 4 team, but I do think they will each be better especially on the defensive end. There won't be as many "easy" wins this season.

[chris]

I agree with LJ2... Fuck Boston always/forever but they have four of their five best players building chemistry together on team USA, and I would expect Gordon Hayward to look a lot more like the guy who played in Utah than the one who struggled last year. And they replaced their talented but chemistry killing point guard with another talented point guard who seems universally well liked.

They will miss Horford but overall I think they're better than last year. Kanter also surprisingly did not get played off the floor in the playoffs last season and if Stevens similarly can make him look not-terrible on defense they might belong in the same tier as the deer and sixers.

[Puffer]

...if Stevens similarly can make him look not-terrible on defense they might belong in the same tier as the deer and sixers.

This can never be true.

Fuck Boston.

[RaptorsVictim]

Anything can happen during the season.
A trade, an injury or someone shines in a sharp way.
I expect Raps to make the playoff, but nothing sure after that.

[Demographic Shift]

Well now.
Seems Marc Gasol might have more than a little something left in the tank at 34.
There was a perceptible groan coming from Hinkietown.
Joel Embiid better have improved his cardio this summer or once again he could be outworked in the post season by a guy almost 10 years older than he is. Have a taco Joel.

[GOLDBLUM]

Well now.
Seems Marc Gasol might have more than a little something left in the tank at 34.
There was a perceptible groan coming from Hinkietown.
Joel Embiid better have improved his cardio this summer or once again he could be outworked in the post season by a guy almost 10 years older than he is. Have a taco Joel.

Hopefully Marc .... ahem, I mean BEER PAPI, doesn’t have too many cervezas.