'21-'22 Roster Construction

[bertarapsfan]

How do people keep up on and keep so engaged with all this "drama", especially when there is so little of it on this team?

The way the NBA is trending in the social media rumor world it really is becoming Kardshains for men... We are just a class organization and don't get any of that B.S from our team.. Looking at reddit/twitter etc. Im convinced like 25% of the "hardcore" fans don't actually watch the game and just live for these internet rumors.. Their are lots of people out their who could tell you the name of that girl who said she hooked up with the entire suns roster but not tell you what horns set is

[MixxAOR]

That stuff was disgusting. I've never seen anything like it, to that level, from any fanbase directed at their own. That said, I don't go on social media. Even then, I can't believe that was from Raptors' fans.

Yeah people went off on him for no reason. Derozan didn't get that kind of treatment and he had his fair share of dissappearance acts. Same with Lowry.

[A.I]

Yeah people went off on him for no reason. Derozan didn't get that kind of treatment and he had his fair share of dissappearance acts. Same with Lowry.

Funnily enough you can give Pascal a pass for his disappointments. Playing in the bubble and in Tampa for a season and a half during a pandemic isn't normal.

[golden]

With Dragic doing the right thing and being a professional while he's here....I'm fully expecting the opening day starting lineup to look something like this:

FVV
Dragic
OG
Boucher or Barnes
Birch

[chris]

Part of that has to do with his salary. He was a lovable underdog on his rookie contract with low expectations, but with max money now comes max expectations.

this probably has something to do with it and i'd that call an error in expectations and fundamental misunderstanding of how max contracts work in the nba on the part of the fanbase.

That stuff was disgusting. I've never seen anything like it, to that level, from any fanbase directed at their own. That said, I don't go on social media. Even then, I can't believe that was from Raptors' fans.

we pretty much have the worst, most classless fanbase in the nba, despite how much smoke gets blow up our asses. it's embarrassing.

[LJ2]

With Dragic doing the right thing and being a professional while he's here....I'm fully expecting the opening day starting lineup to look something like this:

FVV
Dragic
OG
Boucher or Barnes
Birch

I don't see Dragic in the starting lineup. He's been a bench guy lately and I think would be a better fit being pressure relief for Flynn in the second unit.

[planetmars]

I could see Dragic closing, not starting. He's our new Lou Williams for the year.

[The Great One]

That stuff was disgusting. I've never seen anything like it, to that level, from any fanbase directed at their own. That said, I don't go on social media. Even then, I can't believe that was from Raptors' fans.

Most of them were after the playoff series loss to the Celtics - so mostly Celtics fans. There used to be a Siakam vs Tatum "who's better" debate on social media. You know what happened in the playoffs when they played each other so that's really how it started. But yeah i'm not the biggest Siakam fan but some of the things that were said to him during that series was vile and racist.

[inthepaint]

I'm not saying this is Pascal's issue, but one could easily understand him feeling a bit jealous of Scottie. That TTC video was full cringe and totally forced. Maybe Pascal thought he'd be getting the love from the fanbase with Lowry gone, but Scottie's come in and captured hearts before even playing a game. Raptor fanbase love has gone from: Lowry/DD => Lowry/Kawhi => Lowry/FVV => Scottie/FVV. All Pascal is getting from the fanbase is hate.

Part of that has to do with his salary. He was a lovable underdog on his rookie contract with low expectations, but with max money now comes max expectations. And he didn't help himself with the bubble, missing clutch shots and blowups with Nurse last year. But, there is a partial solution to exceeding expectations.... give the team a home-town discount when you sign your contract, like Tim Duncan. That helps with roster construction, too.

He's going through the natural cycle the typical all-star caliber goes through, from rookie to vet. Like you say, he was the lovable easy to cheer for underdog at first, had his rapid ascend (MIP, all-star, even a championship where he was a key part), then the money caught up to him. That's actually very common.

Lowry and Derozan also went through multiple periods of love & bashing, as did FVV. There were people here mad & worried and/or very critical that we gave Lowry the money & term we gave him when he was about 30. Then he calmly proceeded to win a championship, and went trough another renascence with the fan base. It goes up and down. Even Bargs as a number 1 pick had his (brief) aura of excitement around him.

Scottie is going through that too right now as the highest pick we had in while. He's on the love phase (as is OG and to some extent Flynn). Eventually though, when games are actually played and a couple of seasons go by, there will be a normalization of his actual game, and contracts and expectations will catch up too, like everyone else.

Pascal is a vet that won a championship with the team, Scottie is a promising rookie. They are at different stages of their careers, and the fanbase views reflect that, like everywhere else. Players that have a good circle of people around them understand these cycles, so their mental health is hopefully well maintained. i actually think Pascal and Scottie have all the makings of being a very good duo. Pascal feeds off crowd and on-court energy/passion. Scottie is a player that actually generates that for himself and his teammates. That has a high potential of being a really good synergy.

[golden]

I don't see Dragic in the starting lineup. He's been a bench guy lately and I think would be a better fit being pressure relief for Flynn in the second unit.

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."

[SkywalkerAC]

It's the off-season man. Wild leaps is all we have right now. Would you say after the New York Times interview and through
Siakams actions last year he feels insecure about his role on the team?

He probably feels like he has something to prove. Good thing to have.

[SkywalkerAC]

The way the NBA is trending in the social media rumor world it really is becoming Kardshains for men... We are just a class organization and don't get any of that B.S from our team.. Looking at reddit/twitter etc. Im convinced like 25% of the "hardcore" fans don't actually watch the game and just live for these internet rumors.. Their are lots of people out their who could tell you the name of that girl who said she hooked up with the entire suns roster but not tell you what horns set is

I tune 99.9% of it out these days, except the the whining and outrage I see around here of course. But we're comparatively pretty great around here.

[Fuchan]

No.

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

[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.

[Fuchan]

He probably feels like he has something to prove. Good thing to have.

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