Preseason Game #1: Sacramento Kings 94 - Toronto Raptors 99

[Raptorsss]

Every other time he either scored or got to the line, so....

I didn't watch the first quarter, but the other times he got the ball was on rolls to the rim, not post-ups.

[bryan colangelo]

My Notes.

- The crowd was insanely psyched for a pre-season game. This was not the sad-sack affair of watching an open scrimmage at UBC with Bargnani as our number 1 option and Jarrett Jack as our starting point guard. Roger's ARena was packed. While there were a lot of Grizzlies jerseys in the crowd, I think it has less to do with NBA basketball and more to do with the crowd being in love with this particular Raptors team.

- In a segment celebrating NBA basketball in Canada, they showed a brief clip of Bryant Reeves being drafted to the Grizzlies on the big screen. Naturally, we all started booing.

- Isaiah Thomas was sitting courtside, and for some inexplicable reason, they gave the man that bailed on the Raptors, bankrupted the CBA and systematically destroyed the Knicks a rousing ovation. Canadians are too polite.

- Alvin Williams also showed up mid-court to toss t-shirts into the crowd. They should just encase him in carbonite and bring him on tour with the team forever.

- The starting five, whenever they were on the court together, looked pretty much ready to start to regular season. Watching Amir set and reset picks while Demar ran around him like Harlem Globetrotter was a thing of beauty.

- I did not realize that Demar had 21 points. The game came so naturally to him I didn't notice.

- While JV struggled, the Kings seemed adamant on fouling or disrupting him whenever it looked like he was going to score. To his credit, JV seemed to be making his moves much faster and more decisively than he had in the past. He attracts a lot of defensive attention, which is a good thing.

- The bench looked a little like a hot mess for the first three quarters. Not having a post-up big to play an inside-out game seemed to result in a lot of idling on the offensive end. But by the end of the fourth quarter it seemed like GV, Williams, Johnson and Hansborough managed to figure something out.

- I spent most of the game wondering why Casey was forcing us to two big, relatively one-dimensional Whites guys hold the fort inside, because the ball movement really started to stagnant with them on the court. Then Stiemsa took a couple of charges, Hansborough hit a three and I had to rub my eyes to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.

- Hansborough played at maximum Hansbouroughness. He fought for boards and set picks for whoever was handling the ball in a ten-foot radius. He looks like a guy that doesn't want to lose minutes this year. As Zarar suggested, if continues developing his two-man game, and can finish a lay-up or hit an open jumper on a regular basis he'll have a role on the court with guys like Williams and GV.

- I have no idea how the bench rotation is going to work. After a shaky start it looks like GV and Williams can play well together. Johnson is a lock. Hansborough wants in, but we haven't seen Patterson yet. Even Stiemsa seems good for taking charges, dishing out six hard fouls and generally not f--king up. Bebe and Bruno are going to have to work very hard to earn their minutes.

[Raptorsss]

Yeah the only difference between Sacto and Hornets is that one plays defense, the other? Not so much

Exactly, and this year I think the team will actually get it.

[bryan colangelo]

JV has the moves and confidence, he just needs to work on getting position. That is by far his biggest offensive weakness.

YES. That's what I noticed. Sometimes he gets the ball way too far from the basket. I'm not sure what he, the coaches, or his teammates think he can get done from 17, 18 feet.

[Mr.Z]

Right, so give him a shot to prove he can, and if he doesn't it's a very obvious choice to take Stiemsma....and I think in that case Masai will be active, probably shopping Hansbrough, to try and find another guard for insurance.

And if this is true, good thing Hansbrough is working on his jimmy lol more value the better

[Raptorsss]

Keep cherry for Lowry to practice with? Hahahha what?????


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Cherry will make the team for the same reasons that Julyan Stone made the team over Chris Wright, last year. I am not sure you guys quite grasp coach Casey's thinking.

Edit: Neither, Vasquez or Williams are good defenders at the one position, so there is noone on the roster that provide much of a defensive challenge for Lowry to practice against.

[bryan colangelo]

And if this is true, good thing Hansbrough is working on his jimmy lol more value the better

Hansbrough is in a contract year, correct?

[white men can't jump]

Cherry will make the team for the same reasons that Julyan Stone made the team over Chris Wright, last year. I am not sure you guys quite grasp coach Casey's thinking.

Edit: Neither, Vasquez or Williams are good defenders at the one position, so there is noone on the roster that provide much of a defensive challenge for Lowry to practice against.

What? Chris Wright was a guy with no useful offensive skills, and who could really only play one position. Stone was a multipositional defender who could at least to a limited degree handle the ball and make passes. Stone should've made the team over Wright.

[white men can't jump]

Hansbrough is in a contract year, correct?

Yes

[raptors999]

Cherry will make the team for the same reasons that Julyan Stone made the team over Chris Wright, last year. I am not sure you guys quite grasp coach Casey's thinking.

Edit: Neither, Vasquez or Williams are good defenders at the one position, so there is noone on the roster that provide much of a defensive challenge for Lowry to practice against.

I thought Lou and GV were OK defensively with Lou guarding the 1 and GV the 2. Lowry can practice against Fields, Ross and JJ. Gay vs Ross was BKN 2.0. Gay shot over Ross at will.

[draps]

JV has the moves and confidence, he just needs to work on getting position. That is by far his biggest offensive weakness.

As for JJ, we let him go because he got high on the team plane and argued with the coaches about his role. I think that although he made a couple of bad passes, it was a good sign that he was mad at himself for making them.

Lmao I made up the getting high on the plane thing like 2 years ago. It's crazy how much attention it got, I've even seen it mentioned in articles haha

[Raptorsss]

What? Chris Wright was a guy with no useful offensive skills, and who could really only play one position. Stone was a multipositional defender who could at least to a limited degree handle the ball and make passes. Stone should've made the team over Wright.

Let's try this again, Wright didn't make the team, because he was redundant, Stone wasn't. Again, I am making the same argument here, Stiemsma and Hamilton are redundant, Cherry isn't.

Also, you are selling Wright way too short. Last time I checked, Stone doesn't have a NBA training camp invite, while Wright has a chance to make the Milwaukee team out of training camp, after his two 10 day contracts he received from them last year.

[DanH]

Let's try this again, Wright didn't make the team, because he was redundant, Stone wasn't. Again, I am making the same argument here, Stiemsma and Hamilton are redundant, Cherry isn't.

Also, you are selling Wright way too short. Last time I checked, Stone doesn't have a NBA training camp invite, while Wright has a chance to make the Milwaukee team out of training camp, after his two 10 day contracts he received from them last year.

Telling you, Stiemsma will make the team.

[The Great One]

Just got back from the game! What an amazing night!

Players that stood out to me the most:

DeRozan - His ball handling has really improved a lot. And he just looked so confident out there. He knew what he's going to do whenever he gets the ball like no one can stop him. I have a feeling he's going to have a HUGE year.

JV - He's definitely added some new post up moves. He needs to be stronger with the ball though. And the guards needs to make sure that JV gets the ball in his sweet spot not 18 - 20 feet away from the hoop.

Vasquez - Looked very comfortable running the team.

James Johnson - If we had this guy against Brooklyn last season, we probably would've won that series in 5 games.

[Jclaw]

There were at least three plays where lowry fed a bounce pass to JV in the lane through traffic. I think it worked two of the times. That looks like a new play they're trying, no?