'21-'22 Roster Construction

[Primer]

I think it's pretty obvious at this point Barnes is gonna be starting while Siakam is out. It's the right move for a lot of reasons.

When Siakam comes back I think Barnes goes to the bench but who knows, if Scottie is straight balling all bets are off.

[inthepaint]

The more interesting question is: who starts at SG? If GTJ is starting, then I think you have no choice but to start Barnes for the additional playmaking. Knowing Nurse, he'll probably throw a curveball and go small at every position: FVV/Dragic/GTJ/OG + Birch or Barnes at C.

The closest plug & play replica to last year's starting lineup(s) would be:

Lowry => Dragic
FVV => FVV
OG => OG
Siakam => Barnes
Birch/Boucher => Birch/Boucher

Yeah Trent or Dragic starting is a toss-up. Trent brings a higher scoring punch, but dragic is a more well rounded player. Like you, I can see Nurse plugging Dragic on Lowry's role right at the beginning and then experimenting from there.

In the front what I think will happen is he'll start Barnes while Siakam is out, and then when Siakam is back, Nurse will have to decide between sending Birch or Barnes to the bench. At that point Barnes would have to be playing pretty badly to lose the position (either that or Birch playing eye-popping ball)

The other thing he could do when Siakam is back is send one of the guards to the bench (Trent or Dragic) and have OG at the 2-guard position. I think that's a look we'll see but unlikely to be the starting lineup when everyone's healthy.

[golden]

I agree. There's pros and cons to both approaches, but I'm on the camp of starting Barnes. By doing that we would:

1. Have the whole frontcourt be able to seamless switch into any opposing player 1 through 5
2. Potentially reduce Pascal and Fred's usage (which has been too high to the point of reducing their efficiency) by introducing another facilitator.
3. Expedite the development of your 4th opverall pick with starter minutes
4. Give a him a situation where he can take the time to be selective with his shot so he can improve it gradually (since he would be sharing the court with our best finishers)
5. Play our 5 best players more often, which typically leads to more wins.

I don't think starting Khem Birch would outweigh all that but I'll guess we'll see. Nick seems to be willing to give him ample time right out of the gates, which is nice imo.

The more interesting question is: who starts at SG? If GTJ is starting, then I think you have no choice but to start Barnes for the additional playmaking. Knowing Nurse, he'll probably throw a curveball and go small at every position: FVV/Dragic/GTJ/OG + Birch or Barnes at C.

The closest plug & play replica to last year's starting lineup(s) would be:

Lowry => Dragic
FVV => FVV
OG => OG
Siakam => Barnes
Birch/Boucher => Birch/Boucher

[inthepaint]

Nurse has specifically said that Barnes is going to get a lot of reps, starting next Monday. For developmental purposes. You can make a good argument for playing him with the starters where he can help with his D, the strongest part of his game, and he will have the most open court to find some success in early, not to mention being fed by Fred and OG for open looks. Not sure it will work like that but you can make a strong argument for it.

I agree. There's pros and cons to both approaches, but I'm on the camp of starting Barnes. By doing that we would:

1. Have the whole frontcourt be able to seamless switch into any opposing player 1 through 5
2. Potentially reduce Pascal and Fred's usage (which has been too high to the point of reducing their efficiency) by introducing another facilitator.
3. Expedite the development of your 4th opverall pick with starter minutes
4. Give a him a situation where he can take the time to be selective with his shot so he can improve it gradually (since he would be sharing the court with our best finishers)
5. Play our 5 best players more often, which typically leads to more wins.

I don't think starting Khem Birch would outweigh all that but I'll guess we'll see. Nick seems to be willing to give him ample time right out of the gates, which is nice imo.

[Puffer]

He is a bench guy as in he's come off the bench 95 of the 109 games he's played in over the last two seasons. That's his lane now and where he's comfortable. He's a quality player and agree he can start, but that's not how he's been used for two straight seasons and at his age I don't know if you get the best out of him by changing his role and what he's comfortable with. Especially when you have Barnes there who fills the need for size, defence as well as play making with Pascal gone.

If Dragic starts I'd imagine it is a scenario where they are trying to raise his value, but he's pretty much a known commodity at this point. Nobody is expecting to see an All Star out there.

Nurse has specifically said that Barnes is going to get a lot of reps, starting next Monday. For developmental purposes. You can make a good argument for playing him with the starters where he can help with his D, the strongest part of his game, and he will have the most open court to find some success in early, not to mention being fed by Fred and OG for open looks. Not sure it will work like that but you can make a strong argument for it.

[bertarapsfan]

Is Dragic going to be the new Scola?

Hopefully he buys into that role. He talked in the presser how he want to return the guidance that Nash gave to him in PHX. I could see steve really stressing how to be a vet so hopefully he has the same integrity.
Best case for us is we play him 15-20 mins a night to showcase him, not hinder Malachi development by playing goran over him all the time and he takes that role to heart and mentors the young guys. Then we trade him at or before the deadline.

[Ebonhawke]

Is Dragic going to be the new Scola?

We'll see when the training camp bench press test results are released!

[planetmars]

Is Dragic going to be the new Scola?

[LJ2]

Dragic isn't a "bench guy", he is an NBA caliber starting guard who is equally as effective in the starting lineup or off the bench. He started 16 of 17 playoff games in the bubble, and he started 2 of 4 games in last year's playoff. And he was one of the Heat's top 3 players in each playoff series.

With Pascal out, I would bet that Nurse is going to want some experienced ball-handling in that starting lineup, especially since that's what Fred has been used to. As far as Flynn goes, you can easily stagger FVV and Dragic to give him a veteran guard to relieve pressure on the second unit. That said, you don't build your starting lineup around "helping Flynn with the bench."

He is a bench guy as in he's come off the bench 95 of the 109 games he's played in over the last two seasons. That's his lane now and where he's comfortable. He's a quality player and agree he can start, but that's not how he's been used for two straight seasons and at his age I don't know if you get the best out of him by changing his role and what he's comfortable with. Especially when you have Barnes there who fills the need for size, defence as well as play making with Pascal gone.

If Dragic starts I'd imagine it is a scenario where they are trying to raise his value, but he's pretty much a known commodity at this point. Nobody is expecting to see an All Star out there.

[SkywalkerAC]

I am so freaking glad that we don't have another pain-filled rebuilding era staring us in the face right now. Like, there will be "growing pains" but they aren't going to be Kevin O'neill or Bargnani sized ones.

[SkywalkerAC]

Re-posting as this absolute gem was somehow missed on the last page:

I'm pretty sure that Nurse and his zany, experimental ways will find a way to get 12 guys into these regular season games, more often than not. Coming with wave after wave of rangy athletes going 110%, flying around the court on D, and having fresh legs on O. It'll help that we're going to get back to blowing out about 40% of the teams in the league.

I think that Yuta will make a strong case to be in the 10-man rotation - easily done if Pascal is actually still out to start the season. But then you've pretty much got Flynn and Ish in the 11th and 12th spots, Nurse will want to keep them fed and ready to rock. Or Flynn and Dragic as the backup backcourt, and Yuta needing every minute he can get as the 11th guy.

Bottomline, we've got crazy depth and we need to capitalize on it.

Then again, maybe Barnes really will eat all the minutes. If he somehow gets 32...it'll still probably be a 10-man rotation, just less pie for all the tertiary guys.

[Fuchan]

He did not say as much in his interview, he said his role on the team LAST year was unclear (in the sense that the team was handing him the reins but that only means so much when the greatest Raptor of all time is still on the team) and I think if you catch Fred's response to that line of questioning today you'll see why one might assume there's nothing to worry about.

I answered your question, if you don't want yes or no answers don't ask yes or no questions.

Fair enough. Hearing Freds response cleared things up quite a bit. Shows Pascal wasn't the only one who thought like that. He looked to be very relaxed at the presser and he is smiling again which can only be good for the team. Spunds like the GROAT didn't feel comfortable enough to empower him and now that things are more clear hopefully he feels more comfortable

[DanH]

Why reply at all if you don't want to have a conversation about it? I think he said as much in his interview, and this has the potential to cause problems going into this season. I guess time will tell

He did not say as much in his interview, he said his role on the team LAST year was unclear (in the sense that the team was handing him the reins but that only means so much when the greatest Raptor of all time is still on the team) and I think if you catch Fred's response to that line of questioning today you'll see why one might assume there's nothing to worry about.

I answered your question, if you don't want yes or no answers don't ask yes or no questions.

[Fuchan]

The team is the guys he's come up with - OG and Fred and Nurse and a bunch of great guys/players. With Kyle gone and that trio at the top of the totem pole has to be very close to the ideal situation for him. He had a significant bit of adversity and now he's ready to take heads (of our oppponents).

There's no there there, the media (and fans apparently) just want something juicy when there's really not that much juice going to come from an organization and team this stable.

This is true, hopefully there's nothing there. Maybe Kyle, as much as we love him, was holding players back due to him needing to be the alpha in the room.

Super pumped for this season, hopefully he will be back sooner than we think

[SkywalkerAC]

He definitely does have something to prove. Hopefully it's to the rest of the league and not our team.

The "team" is the guys he's come up with - OG and Fred and Nurse and a bunch of great guys/players. With Kyle gone and that trio at the top of the totem pole has to be very close to the ideal situation for Pascal. He had a significant bit of adversity and now he's ready to take heads (of our oppponents).

There's no there there, the media (and fans apparently) just want something juicy when there's really not that much juice going to come from an organization and team this stable.