'21-'22 Roster Construction

[DanH]

Precious will likely get most of his minutes as backup C. So it's more like this, for the moment:

FVV, Flynn
GTJ, Dragic
OG, Barnes, Okpala?, Champagnie (TW)
Siakam, Boucher, Yuta
Birch, Achiuwa, Gillespie

That's all the contracts so far. 13 NBA deals (out of 14 minimum and 15 max) and one 2-way (0 minimum, 2 maximum).

Then, Johnson (PG/SG) and Banton (PG) are candidates for another 2-way or NBA contract. Presumably one of each, unless they find a different candidate for the second two-way.

And then the training camp invites are Dekker (F) and Wainwright (F). No report on the guarantees for them, but if they are small enough Wainwright could be converted to a 2-way deal (Dekker has to be an NBA deal, he is not eligible for a 2-way).

[LJ2]

At this point I think we have a pretty good idea of what the team will look like - we can be relatively certain that Siakam isn't going anywhere and we aren't trading for Ben Simmons. Setting aside Goran Dragic (or whatever he becomes) for now, we've got the following players able to fill the following slots:

PG: Fred, Malachi, Dalano
SG: GTJ, David Johnson, Champagnie, Ishmail
SF: OG, Yuta, Dekker, possibly Stanley
PF: Boucher, Precious, Freddy G
C: Khem, Anas Mahmoud
Somewhere?: Scottie

That's 17 players including Stanley (and I think we'll bring him back, if only because we haven't waived his cap hold yet). My guess would be Anas probably stays with the 905 for the time being simply as one of their roster players. I don't expect Dekker to make the final roster. Dalano and one of either Champagnie or DJ are our two-ways.

We still need an additional center, I think (Isaiah Hartenstein would be my pick, but Luke Kornet wouldn't be terrible either).

More or less the same team from last year, but with Khem at C and a couple of new guys replacing last years depth. Playing from home again (hopefully) should have as back as a playoff team, but I'm not loving the lack of play making with Lowry gone. Hoping Flynn is ready to step up.

Barnes could be a big x-factor though I would be surprised if he is ready to contribute right away. Looking forward to see him play in SL

[golden]

Precious will likely get most of his minutes as backup C. So it's more like this, for the moment:

FVV, Flynn
GTJ, Dragic
OG, Barnes, Okpala?, Champagnie (TW)
Siakam, Boucher, Yuta
Birch, Achiuwa, Gillespie

That's all the contracts so far. 13 NBA deals (out of 14 minimum and 15 max) and one 2-way (0 minimum, 2 maximum).

Then, Johnson (PG/SG) and Banton (PG) are candidates for another 2-way or NBA contract. Presumably one of each, unless they find a different candidate for the second two-way.

And then the training camp invites are Dekker (F) and Wainwright (F). No report on the guarantees for them, but if they are small enough Wainwright could be converted to a 2-way deal (Dekker has to be an NBA deal, he is not eligible for a 2-way).

That bench mob (Flynn, Dragic, Barnes, Boucher, Precious) has some interesting potential. Could be a really fun group.

[DanH]

That bench mob (Flynn, Dragic, Barnes, Boucher, Precious) has some interesting potential. Could be a really fun group.

Yeah, good combination of ball handling, defence, shot creation and shooting. Maybe more so than the starting lineup has (lower overall talent, obviously)!

[Demographic Shift]

Point Guard	Two Guard	Small Forward	Power Forward	Centre
Freddy Van Vleet	Goran Dragic	OG Anunoby	Pascal Siakam	Khem Birch
Malachi Flynn	Gary Trent	Scottie Barnes	Chris Boucher	Prescious Achinmura
Delano Banton	JAG	JAG	Yuta Watanbe	Dizzy Gillespie
JAG- Just A Guy

So if they can't get a deal done for the value they want for The Dragon he is going to stay and he will likely start as we bring in Trent off the bench as first player off the bench. Next players up will likely be Barnes then Boucher. .
Again to me anyway....we are thin at Centre as summer league kicks off. While this group is an upgrade over the Baynes- Len fiasco from last year , we still look to be short again on rebounding. Maybe Gillespie can carve out some space here.
Outside shooting on paper looks better than last year with FVV Dragic Trent and OG. None of these guys are afraid to let it rip.

Our half court offense is again suspect unless Pascal adds another juke or two in the repertoire along with the spin move or Barnes defies all conventional wisdom as a rookie and shows he can get to the basket. I am a little skeptical on Barnes being able to do this in his rookie season. Hope I am wrong.

Transition offense is going to be fun to watch. We got speed and athleticism at least 9 deep.

Outside of rebounding this is a really solid defensive team. Long arms everywhere. Disrupting the passing lanes is going to be a calling card.

Over / Under is 45 Wins .
Over / Under is 6 1/2 for seeding.

[slaw]

Not sure who is going to score for this team. I foresee lots of threes and if they don’t go in then lots more threes. I guess Dragic will offer something off the bench if he stays healthy but they are really going to have lean on their defense. Hopefully the interior defense is better.

[grindhouse]

Why can’t Scottie be a point guard?

[GinobilisBaldSpot]

Point Guard	Two Guard	Small Forward	Power Forward	Centre
Freddy Van Vleet	Goran Dragic	OG Anunoby	Pascal Siakam	Khem Birch
Malachi Flynn	Gary Trent	Scottie Barnes	Chris Boucher	Prescious Achinmura
Delano Banton	JAG	JAG	Yuta Watanbe	Dizzy Gillespie
JAG- Just A Guy

So if they can't get a deal done for the value they want for The Dragon he is going to stay and he will likely start as we bring in Trent off the bench as first player off the bench. Next players up will likely be Barnes then Boucher. .
Again to me anyway....we are thin at Centre as summer league kicks off. While this group is an upgrade over the Baynes- Len fiasco from last year , we still look to be short again on rebounding. Maybe Gillespie can carve out some space here.
Outside shooting on paper looks better than last year with FVV Dragic Trent and OG. None of these guys are afraid to let it rip.

Our half court offense is again suspect unless Pascal adds another juke or two in the repertoire along with the spin move or Barnes defies all conventional wisdom as a rookie and shows he can get to the basket. I am a little skeptical on Barnes being able to do this in his rookie season. Hope I am wrong.

Transition offense is going to be fun to watch. We got speed and athleticism at least 9 deep.

Outside of rebounding this is a really solid defensive team. Long arms everywhere. Disrupting the passing lanes is going to be a calling card.

Over / Under is 45 Wins .
Over / Under is 6 1/2 for seeding.

I think your Two Guard JAG is going to end up being David Johnson.

[grindhouse]

Listen to the rap rep podcast today and it was a good convo I would like to hear more of.

a lot of people are looking at the roster and saying how are we going to score. The trending offences In the league are based off of the Steve Nash Amir suns mike dantonie offence.

Here in 2021 we look at this as the end all be all to score. Jordan and pippen are the best of the best and none of them were considered 3 pt shooters. Our basketball memory is so short.

miami heat last year went to the finals only defending the 3 point line and the rim. There are other ways to score as David Thorpe described it the second box the 16 footer from the top side of the key these are spots that were considered to be money shots if you go past resent memory.

all the greats built there game from the block to the second box to the 16 ft that was their bread and butter. Scottie Barnes is very capable of that.

Another lost skill is the screen game a perfect example of that is rip Hamilton score 20 plus a night all off of screens, one drill, money

time to put it all together minimizing and maximizing space

on defensive as a TEAM your going to take away option 1,2,3… now what’s the easiest way to take away the 3, length, correct. You also want to guide to help. Take away the strong, side take away the 3, guide to help. Now when you have length and speed all over the court help is closer the angles to make a winning pass are more acute. You give to time for a shot blocker to move in a shorter space. And that why Scottie Barnes! that why Scottie, OG, Pascal on the floor at the same time. The more choices you make your opponent to make to more chances for them to make a mistake that how you play great defence.

[c-troop]

Starters: FVV, GTJ, OG, Siakam, Birch

Bench Unit: Dragic, Yuta, Barnes, Boucher, Precious...+ Flynn

Rookies: Banton, Champ, Johnson (Two-way)

Three available contracts remaining:

Wainwright vs Dekker; Bonga vs Gillespie and, ? vs ?


I think they will invite 2 guards to training camp to fight for the last spot.

[LJ2]

It looks like the defense is set and that the Raps will be able to rely on it to keep them in games similar to Boston or Miami.

On the other end of the floor is where we may struggle though. There's no Tatum which other teams have to focus on, or Butler to get clutch points or even a Lowry level scorer who can play make, and help to score by committee. FVV and Siakam are going to have to step up even more this season to create for others and take on a bigger scoring load.

Dragic, who I thought and still think won't be here past the trade deadline is suddenly really important to the offense.

[The Claw Reborn]

It looks like the defense is set and that the Raps will be able to rely on it to keep them in games similar to Boston or Miami.

On the other end of the floor is where we may struggle though. There's no Tatum which other teams have to focus on, or Butler to get clutch points or even a Lowry level scorer who can play make, and help to score by committee. FVV and Siakam are going to have to step up even more this season to create for others and take on a bigger scoring load.

Dragic, who I thought and still think won't be here past the trade deadline is suddenly really important to the offense.

I fully remembered you said months ago that Raptors are all set (playoff bound) if we insert Mobley with Lowry gone .

[DanH]

It looks like the defense is set and that the Raps will be able to rely on it to keep them in games similar to Boston or Miami.

On the other end of the floor is where we may struggle though. There's no Tatum which other teams have to focus on, or Butler to get clutch points or even a Lowry level scorer who can play make, and help to score by committee. FVV and Siakam are going to have to step up even more this season to create for others and take on a bigger scoring load.

Dragic, who I thought and still think won't be here past the trade deadline is suddenly really important to the offense.

It will be a struggle early on when Pascal is out, but for the regular season the offence has every ability to be just fine with Pascal and FVV as the playmakers/initiators.

Dragic will help but I don't think he's that crucial to the offensive success. You want Flynn to step up, you want Barnes to get a chance doing some creation stuff, you want Trent to show more, and all of that might go terribly or it could all go great or anywhere in between, but I think it goes well enough that our offence is viable enough for the defence to carry us to a lot of success.

[LJ2]

I fully remembered you said months ago that Raptors are all set (playoff bound) if we insert Mobley with Lowry gone .

Yes, and as you can see Mobley is not part of the roster LOL.

I still think we are playoff bound by the way, however it doesn't mean our offense won't struggle.

[saints91]

I think they should let Scottie run the point. Right now he isn't a danger from 3, so parking him in the corner doesn't;t help us with spacing. With the ball in his hands, they have to guard him, and when he doesn't have the ball he should be cutting/relocating. I would like to see if he has the ability to do it... even if it's with the second unit.