Game #30 Raptors @ Timberwolves, Feb. 19, 9:00 PM ET

[DogeLover1234]

So how are the Raptors going to guard Embiid? would they go small again? who are they going to put on Embiid? Siakam? OG? Embiid is too big. And unlike Towns and Giannis, Embiid actually plays like a big.

I also don't want to hear the Embiid/Jokic debate anymore lol. Who's the frontrunner for MVP right now? Embiid. The Nuggets on the other hand i believe are in 8th spot in the West lol.

Embiid > Jokic. bertarapsfan

Its crazy how mich better Philly is with Embiid than without. We dont have the tools to stop him really, best we can do is hard pressure the ball handlers, help early often and from different spots. Havent watched any Philly this year but last year I swear only Simmons could make an entry pass. Think its more about denying him the ball, once he gets it we’re done.

[Dvdvideo]

Strawman...no where did I ever mention from the very beginning of any of my posts here that the Raptors have an issue in scoring...so do yourself a favor in a discussion to not put words in someone’s mouth....

the trade proposal always has something to do with asset management especially when it comes to Norm... the Wizards FRP is valuable. But to respond to my initial post that the suggested trade is ridiculous warrants a sarcastic response that you must be from the district because you were insulted of the proposal so I do understand if you must be a Wizard fan

now we can move on

Error, ok, in that bubble you live in, I take it you are never wrong. Lol, well sorry to burst your bubble, but I'm neither a wizards fan or a silly trade fan.
And pretty much everyone else on this board sees the raps have issues scoring, so enjoy that position. We can move on now that you are firm in the position that you can't take anyone else's opinion.

[The Claw Reborn]

Error, ok, in that bubble you live in, I take it you are never wrong. Lol, well sorry to burst your bubble, but I'm neither a wizards fan or a silly trade fan.
And pretty much everyone else on this board sees the raps have issues scoring, so enjoy that position. We can move on now that you are firm in the position that you can't take anyone else's opinion.

cheers !

[Dvdvideo]

Agreed. That's a mighty high horse your are riding.

[Rudy Bargnani]

Really going to be interesting to see how the guard Embiid. Depending on how they goes may shape how we approach trade deadline for a center. If small ball goes well maybe there isn’t a trade to be made for a c. Not to keen on trading Powell right now

[S.R.]

Raps are now 1-4 in second game of back to backs. Lost to Portland, Indiana, Atlanta, Boston and barely beat Minny yesterday who suck. I don't recall this team doing so badly on second games of back to backs before.

The 4 in 6 obviously plays a role too.. but I think Covid is mucking up their energy. It's just a bad season.

Yeah Embiid put up 50 last night with I think 17 rebounds. They still only beat the Bulls by like 7 but the game was close through out. Philly is not some unstoppable team. We can beat those guys. Also they are amazing at home (13-2 record) but are mediocre on the road (7-8), just like last year. They play the Raps in Tampa in both games.

3 of their starters are in the top 30 mpg and they have one of the shortest rotations in the league and generally play all out on both ends of the floor. And against Minny they were missing guys. They were understandably exhausted and it was great to grab a win in that situation.

[DogeLover1234]

Error, ok, in that bubble you live in, I take it you are never wrong. Lol, well sorry to burst your bubble, but I'm neither a wizards fan or a silly trade fan.
And pretty much everyone else on this board sees the raps have issues scoring, so enjoy that position. We can move on now that you are firm in the position that you can't take anyone else's opinion.

Not to be that guy, but we are a good offensive team. Like we are more efficient than that championship team was in the regular season. 2 things: offenses have been better this year so we are relatively worse (though still better than last year) and our defense is mediocre. I think the concern is more we dont have a bucket getter against the best defenses. Honestly a lot of it comes down to how you view Fred and Pascal. Personally I think they are in a wierd spot cause people have already made up their opinions but the duo is still developing and have ups and downs. The ups or downs just confirm everyones belief one way or the other, but honestly I dont think either is a written book yet and both are kind of on the fringes of where we want them to be.

Regardless, the big star scorer trade moves us up a tier, but the most pressing and valuable upgrade is a center to improve defense.

Edit: that being said, my trade target for like a year has been Lonzo, I just love watching him play lol. Perfect fit for the team and a total Nurse guy.

[inthepaint]

Really going to be interesting to see how the guard Embiid. Depending on how they goes may shape how we approach trade deadline for a center. If small ball goes well maybe there isn’t a trade to be made for a c. Not to keen on trading Powell right now

I think the game plan here should be neutralize the other Philly players. Embiid is gonna do damage regardless. Harris & Curry are shootinng both north of 42% from 3, make sure these guys don't go off so we don't have another pircher/ojeleye situation and we should be ok. I mean, if Emibiid went for 50 the other night and they only beat the bulls by 7, then we got a good chance.

Need length and athleticism on the backcourt vs 6'11 Simmons though, on both ends of the floor. If Nurse is going to insist on excessive minutes of Lowry & Fred together and start shelving Norm, then we're easy pickings.

[Dvdvideo]

Not to be that guy, but we are a good offensive team. Like we are more efficient than that championship team was in the regular season. 2 things: offenses have been better this year so we are relatively worse (though still better than last year) and our defense is mediocre. I think the concern is more we dont have a bucket getter against the best defenses. Honestly a lot of it comes down to how you view Fred and Pascal. Personally I think they are in a wierd spot cause people have already made up their opinions but the duo is still developing and have ups and downs. The ups or downs just confirm everyones belief one way or the other, but honestly I dont think either is a written book yet and both are kind of on the fringes of where we want them to be.

Regardless, the big star scorer trade moves us up a tier, but the most pressing and valuable upgrade is a center to improve defense.

Edit: that being said, my trade target for like a year has been Lonzo, I just love watching him play lol. Perfect fit for the team and a total Nurse guy.

I dont think our team is bad per say offensively, more middle of the road, and like you say, we have issues scoring at times. I have no doubt that adding a scorer like Beal would help us offensively, but not if we aren't giving up the rock (freddy) that is going to hold it all together to get it. Plus he would be a defensive liability.

What we really need to increase our scoring is an effective center - an extra 10 points a game would be huge, Bains gives us nothing and even hurts us on offense. Plus like you say, to also improve our defense. Imagine our record if serge had resigned.....I dare say a 20 - 10 record would have been a likely reality and tied for 1st in the east.

[Jclaw]

Raps are now 1-4 in second game of back to backs. Lost to Portland, Indiana, Atlanta, Boston and barely beat Minny yesterday who suck. I don't recall this team doing so badly on second games of back to backs before.

The 4 in 6 obviously plays a role too.. but I think Covid is mucking up their energy. It's just a bad season.

Yeah Embiid put up 50 last night with I think 17 rebounds. They still only beat the Bulls by like 7 but the game was close through out. Philly is not some unstoppable team. We can beat those guys. Also they are amazing at home (13-2 record) but are mediocre on the road (7-8), just like last year. They play the Raps in Tampa in both games.

We’ve become one of those “hey there’s no back to back games in the playoffs” teams. We’ve made it.

[Yuri Gagarin]

Please, at least understand the game before you make comments like this. Beal has far more attempts per game for his scoring totals than fred, if he took as many shots as Beal he would have near the same point totals. Beal is a good player on a crappy team, and it makes him look better than he really is due to high usage. And even if you give the edge to Beal offensively due to his slightly better fg percentage, his defense and ability to pass is weaker.

Don't just take my word for it:
https://fadeawayworld.net/2019/07/18...rs-in-the-nba/

Your solution to the raps scoring issues of bring in Demar 2.0 is ridiculous.

47% to 40% is a fk of a lot better not slightly better

[A.I]

.

Please, at least understand the game before you make comments like this. Beal has far more attempts per game for his scoring totals than fred, if he took as many shots as Beal he would have near the same point totals. Beal is a good player on a crappy team, and it makes him look better than he really is due to high usage. And even if you give the edge to Beal offensively due to his slightly better fg percentage, his defense and ability to pass is weaker.

Don't just take my word for it:
https://fadeawayworld.net/2019/07/18...rs-in-the-nba/

Your solution to the raps scoring issues of bring in Demar 2.0 is ridiculous.

That article was during the off-season of 2019. Last season and this season, Beal's scoring jumped to 30+ PPG. He is shooting more and averaging more points in less minutes on similar efficiency. While he is on a bad team, you could make the argument he could be more efficient and a better player on a good team with a good coach.

Fred would not average the same amount of points if he was in Beal's situation. Fred is a good scorer, but his height limits him from being effective compared to players who are taller. Fred is a streaky scorer and sometimes inconsistent. Averaging 32 points on 47% is hell of a lot better than averaging 20 points on 40%. Fred's defense is definitely better than Beal's, but I'd say their playmaking is similar. Beal averaged 6 assists last season, it dropped to 4.7 this season, but he has Westbrook on his team and his teammates aren't very good.

[G__Deane]

Good team bad team no team. The leading scorer in the whole flippin' NBA and you can't find a space for him on this .500 team???
Some of you guys need to get your money back on whatever you're smokin'

[golden]

Please, at least understand the game before you make comments like this. Beal has far more attempts per game for his scoring totals than fred, if he took as many shots as Beal he would have near the same point totals. Beal is a good player on a crappy team, and it makes him look better than he really is due to high usage. And even if you give the edge to Beal offensively due to his slightly better fg percentage, his defense and ability to pass is weaker.

Don't just take my word for it:
https://fadeawayworld.net/2019/07/18...rs-in-the-nba/

Your solution to the raps scoring issues of bring in Demar 2.0 is ridiculous.

Lol. That’s not how USG and efficiency works. Let’s just have Boucher take all the shots then.

[Dvdvideo]

Ok lets take a deeper look then. Beal does shoot an overall percentage higher, but is a worse 3pt shooter. Plus of course his defensive liabilities, which can't be ignored.

According to nba.com
Beal has 24.2 attempts per game for 32.9 points per game (1.359 points per shot taken)
Fred has 16.7 attempts per game for 20.0 points per game (1.197 points per shot taken)

I know it doesn't directly give you an exact amount of what fred would contribute if he took more shots, but it does still give you an idea. So he is scoring 1.197 points per shot taken. If he were to take an additional 7.5 shots per game, this would be an additional 8.98 points per game. This would put him at 29 points per game. You can say it would go down, but he does still have lowry and siakam and norm drawing a decent amount of attention. And maybe it would go down a bit, but even if it dropped to say, 1.10 points per shot taken, that's still almost 27 points a game.
The USG and efficiency argument doesn't really apply here in terms of using boucher as an example, he's not really been forced to play in the same kind of role as Fred.
As to not finding a role for the leading scorer in the NBA.....I can accept him if we don't give away the future to do so, and our entire defense in the process.

I have no issue with trading for Beal if he can somehow play defense and we don't lose vanvleet in the process, but I just don't see how it makes sense with vanvleet involved. Certainly some unknown prospect that might pan out in a 1st round pick 3 years from now isn't that enticing, and also at the expense of losing one of our best scoring threats this year in norm in the process would basically mean we are tanking this year on purpose. There is also a very decent chance that norm could resign with the raps, especially if we fail to attract any big name free agents, it's his home and he might get a good offer.

Lowry on the other hand, I see him walking, the reason being, is that he sees himself as a starter going forward, and I don't see the raps can give him the cash he might want to fulfill that role.
As a lower salary bench player? We would sign him in 1 second. As a result there is a good chance they will trade him.