2020 End of Season / Playoffs

[Demographic Shift]

I can pretty confidently say that RJ will never be as good as Rose was, and their play styles are completely different so the comparison is just off for me. Also, Deandre Hunter is quite easily better than RJ now and likely in the future. I'm not trying to hate on RJ because I want him to succeed but I'm not sure I see a world where him at his best is really a difference maker in the NBA. I'd love to be proven wrong.

I too am confident that Barrett won't win the MVP of the League. What I was saying maybe Thibs can turn him into a reasonable facsimilie of Mr. Rose. You may have experienced that differently Its that Rose is the only 1 guard compare I had for Thibs as headcoach. He didn't have anyone in minny at the 1 that you could trust. Maybe he tries turning him into Jimmy Butler as somewhat less ball dominant 2. He won't turn him into Wiggins who has to want to turn himself into something. Barrett has the makeup to be much better than he was this year. Time will tell how much better he gets and if the Knicks did get one right for a change and have paid a professional coach a decent salary with some term to see what he can do with this sad sack outfit.
Barrett is a big part of the deal. Make your 3rd overall better on the technical part of the game.

Lets see how the horse race between Barrett and Hunter looks in year 4. Right now they are just at the 1/4 pole.

[planetmars]

Issac is back.

[Apollo]

We have a "Pick 3" pool going. Its for the eight game regular season. No fantasy draft, just sign up (use your Raptors Republic name as your team name), pick three guys and you're done. You need your picks in by the end of THIS Wednesday.

Registration link is here: https://www.fantrax.com/newui/fantas...low&isSubmit=y
League thread is here: https://forums.raptorsrepublic.com/f...ng-this-sunday

I'll be running a playoff league as well. Will set that up later this week.

[S.R.]

Can anyone actually make the Rockets pay for playing super small ball? Maybe Lebron? Because I'm not seeing the personnel on the contenders to take advantage inside. Biggest thing will just be lack of rim protection.

So many bigs now are either stretch bigs who can't post up or play in the paint anyway, or a few athletic, defensive minded bigs without an offensive game to speak of. Biggest advantage will be for driving wing players who don't have to deal with a rim protector in the paint. Rockets defence will have to wall up to keep guys from getting to the rim. Should create open 3's.

Along those lines, really liked what we saw from OG last game. If he can actually create offence through drive and kick, that'll help the Raps a lot.

[Apollo]

Can anyone actually make the Rockets pay for playing super small ball? Maybe Lebron? Because I'm not seeing the personnel on the contenders to take advantage inside. Biggest thing will just be lack of rim protection.

So many bigs now are either stretch bigs who can't post up or play in the paint anyway, or a few athletic, defensive minded bigs without an offensive game to speak of. Biggest advantage will be for driving wing players who don't have to deal with a rim protector in the paint. Rockets defence will have to wall up to keep guys from getting to the rim. Should create open 3's.

Along those lines, really liked what we saw from OG last game. If he can actually create offence through drive and kick, that'll help the Raps a lot.

I'm hoping the Rockets make the finals. The Raptors match up really well against them in my opinion.

[chris]

i love everything about this lou williams story. coles notes:

• excused from orlando to tend to personal matter
• rapper uploads photo of lou in atlanta-area strip club to instagram
• he went there for dinner
• now must quarantine for ten days and miss the first two clippers seeding games instead

"Ask any of my teammates what's my favorite restaurant in Atlanta is" is a quote from lou williams

[The Great One]

This Lou Williams story is NOT funny at all. What if that clown on IG didn't post Williams pic on IG? that clown already lied that those pics are "old". All it takes is one selfish individual for an outbreak to happen. Look at what's going on in baseball.

Forget about Williams potentially costing the Clippers a chance of winning it all, but his selfishness might not only infect other players following the rules but also all the staff in the bubble and their FAMILIES.

[chris]

i agree with all of that but still find humour in the absurdity of it all. NBA is spending hundreds of millions of dollars and spent months meticulously planning every element of this. all you had to do was not go to the peelers while outside of the bubble for two days to attend a funeral lou will. can you follow these simple instructions?

no. he was hungry.

[MixxAOR]

Dennis Rodman inspired guys i guess

[S.R.]

i agree with all of that but still find humour in the absurdity of it all. NBA is spending hundreds of millions of dollars and spent months meticulously planning every element of this. all you had to do was not go to the peelers while outside of the bubble for two days to attend a funeral lou will. can you follow these simple instructions?

no. he was hungry.

Wings Before Rings

[Apollo]

He wasn't going there for wings. Come on.

[planetmars]

I would imagine these guys getting access to all the hard core stuff they need from their rooms. They've got the money. A virtual lap dance won't hurt anybody.

[Apollo]

I would imagine these guys getting access to all the hard core stuff they need from their rooms. They've got the money. A virtual lap dance won't hurt anybody.

Lou wasn't getting those "lemon salt wings" in his room. Been to Disney World, must have missed that place at Epcot.

[The Great One]

This.

He wasn't going there for wings. Come on.

People are so naive man.

[The Great One]

The NHL are big Raptors fan I can tell.