Everything Off Season

[G__Deane]

Bucks Celtics could be interchangeably 1-2 with the Miami, the Raps, Philly, Nets, Pacers scrapping for scraps.

[The Great One]

ESPN reporter from Brazil.

Probably a Warriors fan.

[LJ2]

For sure! But that's not what he's been talking about to media the last couple days. He's been saying he really wanted to be in Toronto but got low balled and had to leave for a better offer (my synopsis). He seems genuinely upset.

I mean you sort of expect all players to say something similar. "I really wanted to be there, the fans are great the city is great, ownership blah, blah..". At the end of the day he saw a better opportunity for himself and most anything coming out of his or any player leavings mouth explaining why they left was probably written for them by a PR person.

I have nothing but respect for him whatever he says his reasons were.

[LJ2]

Are we expecting any more additions to the roster at this point or are we going with what we have? And where do you guys think we will place in the seeding?

I think Nurse has got to have something up his sleeve for this year's offense. No way we can go into the playoffs without home court and expect our big free agent target to take us seriously.

[golden]

Are we expecting any more additions to the roster at this point or are we going with what we have? And where do you guys think we will place in the seeding?

I think Nurse has got to have something up his sleeve for this year's offense. No way we can go into the playoffs without home court and expect our big free agent target to take us seriously.

No home court? Isn't that what the Heat did? Does home court in Tampa Bay with no fans still count?

[planetmars]

Are we expecting any more additions to the roster at this point or are we going with what we have? And where do you guys think we will place in the seeding?

I think Nurse has got to have something up his sleeve for this year's offense. No way we can go into the playoffs without home court and expect our big free agent target to take us seriously.

Unless Masai has a surprise up his sleeves, the roster is probably set (minus figuring out the fringe 2-way contracts) .

Baynes is basically a cross of Serge and Marc. We lose Marc's defense and passing which will be a big loss.. but I think we get a bit more consistency from Serge who can be bad (and was overrated).

We might dip a bit but we'll see. I think Baynes was a solid get. He'll be a Raptor favourite by the end of the year. His biggest concern is that he's old and can't really play a lot. So we'll have to rely on Len/Boucher and/or small ball to get by. That could be a problem. Or may actually workout great. It's a wait and see.

Nobody expected last seasons roster to be as good as they were (#2 record in the entire league). Yet it happened. We do well when we're underdogs. And I see that happening again.

[Kagemusha]

Who asked this question?

Great for Pascal to point that out.
That Raptors team will probably even beat last season's Lakers in the Finals.

[G__Deane]

Unless Masai has a surprise up his sleeves, the roster is probably set (minus figuring out the fringe 2-way contracts) .

Baynes is basically a cross of Serge and Marc. We lose Marc's defense and passing which will be a big loss.. but I think we get a bit more consistency from Serge who can be bad (and was overrated).

We might dip a bit but we'll see. I think Baynes was a solid get. He'll be a Raptor favourite by the end of the year. His biggest concern is that he's old and can't really play a lot. So we'll have to rely on Len/Boucher and/or small ball to get by. That could be a problem. Or may actually workout great. It's a wait and see.

Nobody expected last seasons roster to be as good as they were (#2 record in the entire league). Yet it happened. We do well when we're underdogs. And I see that happening again.

We lose Marc's D and passing but at least Baynes will not pass out of a deep feed 5 feet from the basket and will avg 8PPG better than Marc did in the playoffs, opening up the court for every other player. I don't think it's that much of a loss.

And he'll be a fan favourite in weeks not the end of the year. Raps fans love lunch bucket guys, JYD, Oak etc

btw, he played 22+ minutes per game last season, highest in his career and his PER was 15+ best in his career and above league average. The dude is only getting better and your concern is he's old?

I'm hoping he can get us ~15PPG this year with better than decent D and spread the floor with enough physicality to not give up the easy buckets we sometimes gifted

[planetmars]

We lose Marc's D and passing but at least Baynes will not pass out of a deep feed 5 feet from the basket and will avg 8PPG better than Marc did in the playoffs, opening up the court for every other player. I don't think it's that much of a loss.

And he'll be a fan favourite in weeks not the end of the year. Raps fans love lunch bucket guys, JYD, Oak etc

btw, he played 22+ minutes per game last season, highest in his career and his PER was 15+ best in his career and above league average. The dude is only getting better and your concern is he's old?

I'm hoping he can get us ~15PPG this year with better than decent D and spread the floor with enough physicality to not give up the easy buckets we sometimes gifted

Sometimes its not about what they produce.. it's about what they can do to help others produce. Marc looked super washed at times.. but when you break down a game statistically, Marc was elevating others. And that might not happen with Baynes. Although I hope it will.

Serge could score.. he averaged over 15 a game.. but if you again break down the stats.. he was usually a negative when on the floor. And that was true whether he started or came off the bench. I personally won't miss Serge much. I think I will miss Marc more.

[MixxAOR]

We were excellent team without Marc. We'll be fine

[DanH]

We were excellent team without Marc. We'll be fine

We were a very good team without Marc, and a world beater with him. Have to hope for leaps from Siakam, OG et al to make up the drop off (which admittedly might have been there regardless with his aging, but will certainly be there having lost him entirely).

[DanH]

Unless Masai has a surprise up his sleeves, the roster is probably set (minus figuring out the fringe 2-way contracts) .

Baynes is basically a cross of Serge and Marc. We lose Marc's defense and passing which will be a big loss.. but I think we get a bit more consistency from Serge who can be bad (and was overrated).

We might dip a bit but we'll see. I think Baynes was a solid get. He'll be a Raptor favourite by the end of the year. His biggest concern is that he's old and can't really play a lot. So we'll have to rely on Len/Boucher and/or small ball to get by. That could be a problem. Or may actually workout great. It's a wait and see.

Nobody expected last seasons roster to be as good as they were (#2 record in the entire league). Yet it happened. We do well when we're underdogs. And I see that happening again.

I suspect the 2-ways are set (Harris and PWJ) and even 15th man is leaning heavily to Brissett, though could be still up for grabs.

[Demographic Shift]

Probably a Warriors fan.

Still mad the Raps cut both Bruno and Bebe.

[DogeLover1234]

We were a very good team without Marc, and a world beater with him. Have to hope for leaps from Siakam, OG et al to make up the drop off (which admittedly might have been there regardless with his aging, but will certainly be there having lost him entirely).

World beater is a stretch. Not really world beater status when your starting centre cant consistently take advantage of wide open 3s and lanes to the basket. Not going to argue on the defensive side, that was fantastic, but offensively we were pretty outmatched against good teams in a Bo7. Now if Pascal, Fred and OG were to make meaningful improvements I think we miss Gasol a Lot more. Its hard to replace a guy who is elite at anything, I think Marc is elite in reading the floor (on both ends) and creating as a big man while Ibaka wasn’t really elite at anything just all around good plus much less of a liability in space and scoring.

[DanH]

World beater is a stretch. Not really world beater status when your starting centre cant consistently take advantage of wide open 3s and lanes to the basket. Not going to argue on the defensive side, that was fantastic, but offensively we were pretty outmatched against good teams in a Bo7. Now if Pascal, Fred and OG were to make meaningful improvements I think we miss Gasol a Lot more. Its hard to replace a guy who is elite at anything, I think Marc is elite in reading the floor (on both ends) and creating as a big man while Ibaka wasn’t really elite at anything just all around good plus much less of a liability in space and scoring.

Right but Baynes is roughly an Ibaka replacement on both ends and Ibaka was a huge net step down from Gasol all things considered.

If we're talking point differential or record when Gasol played, world beater was about right. Bubble Gasol not so much, the offence completely disappearing hurt too much, but worth noting we still had a very competitive 7 gamer against another top team. It's not like we bowed out easy, even with so much of the key rotation pieces simply not themselves in the bubble.

If we got regular season Gasol in the playoffs we glide past Boston. Sadly we did not - and that's my concern, we won't have that this year at all.