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Areas for Improvement for Individual Players

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  • inthepaint
    replied
    Fred started to take some jumpers around the FT line on the final 1/3 of the season. May have been a result of too much stuffing at the rim. That's not a layup or a 3, but it's a better % shot compared to 3 guys converging on his drive, at his height.

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  • slaw
    replied
    Puffer wrote: View Post

    Maybe just my memory playing tricks on me, but it seems like he looked off a lot of guys when he took it to the rim. I mean if he is driving the paint and 3 guys meet him under the rim, there is a pass there that should have been taken. It's one thing for a guy who is uber athletic, 6'8" tall and weighs 245 lbs to invite contact and take the shot, but not a high % strategy for someone Fred's size unless you are super smart about how you do it. And I didn't see super smart methodology from Fred.

    Glad to see some others seeing obvious things that can be improved by our vets. It goes without saying that our rookies should take significant steps.
    In fairness to FVV, the Raps have a lot of bystanders at times and he was forced to carry an outsized load offensively far too often. If Toronto had a SG with lots of weapons, it would solve many problems, including the ball being in Fred's hands too much. Also, if the Raps are like every other team, they value layups and threes and that can lead to forcing things at the rim rather than shooting floaters (as SR points out is very helpful) or even pulling up for a jimmy (heaven forbid!).

    And there is Good Fred and Bad Fred. Good Fred does a lot of the things we are talking about but then Bad Fred rears its head and goes in the opposite direction. Which is to say this isn't a case of reinventing a player but simply the player making better decisions consitently.

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  • Puffer
    replied
    slaw wrote: View Post

    For me, it's two things offensively: keeping his dribble alive when he gets in the paint and trusting his teammates. The latter ties into a lot of your points but the former is a much easier fix.
    Maybe just my memory playing tricks on me, but it seems like he looked off a lot of guys when he took it to the rim. I mean if he is driving the paint and 3 guys meet him under the rim, there is a pass there that should have been taken. It's one thing for a guy who is uber athletic, 6'8" tall and weighs 245 lbs to invite contact and take the shot, but not a high % strategy for someone Fred's size unless you are super smart about how you do it. And I didn't see super smart methodology from Fred.

    Glad to see some others seeing obvious things that can be improved by our vets. It goes without saying that our rookies should take significant steps.

    Leave a comment:


  • S.R.
    replied
    slaw wrote: View Post

    For me, it's two things offensively: keeping his dribble alive when he gets in the paint and trusting his teammates. The latter ties into a lot of your points but the former is a much easier fix.
    That and a runner. He needs a floater from the FT line down, that's a huge shot for a small guard who's only going to get stuffed if he takes his drive right to the basket. Ja's got a great one already, can put shots right over DPOY Gobert at will. It's really critical for a small guard who wants to be able to finish when there's traffic in the lane.

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  • slaw
    replied
    inthepaint wrote: View Post
    FVV - More court vision. If you're running the offence, look for the better shot the overall team can get (as opposed to using 18 seconds of the clock looking for your own shot then passing the hot potato at the end of the clock when your shot is not there). Get versed at pocket passes to bigs on pick and rolls early in the clock.
    For me, it's two things offensively: keeping his dribble alive when he gets in the paint and trusting his teammates. The latter ties into a lot of your points but the former is a much easier fix.

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  • planetmars
    replied
    I think Pascal will be a plus 3pt shooter once he gets to play in Toronto again. The splits are really crazy when you look at his numbers since he was a rookie. Tampa was not a good experience for him. My only thing with him is that he gets in his head a lot I think. He's probably our most emotional player.. and wish he learned calmness from Kawhi when he was here.

    Fred is the guy that has to improve way more.. he needs some kind of mid range shot, or ability to figure out how to play around the rim more. Maybe pass it out if he's stuck or in trouble. He's got a really good first step, and is a lethal shooter.. but just mucks it up around the paint. He needs to learn from guys like Kemba/IT/Iverson/etc.. small guards can score in the paint and around the rim. It just requires a lot of communication with bigs, and to be open to passing things out when things are not working.

    Will OG turn into Kawhi? I doubt it but his career arch is right there with Kawhi. Kawhi took that huge / superstar step though, and I don't think OG will.. but he has that ability. Will he demand the ball more? Will he have a higher usage? Does he take over games? He's hit that elite 3&D ceiling.. but hopefully that's not where he plateaus.

    The only other guy I'd like to comment on is Flynn as he's going into his sophomore year. That's a tough one, because there will be growth expectations and we'll really see if he's matured and let the game slowed down a bit for him. Lots of guys flame out in their second year though. Look at Terence Davis for example. He looks like he's got a good head though. Just needs to get better at shooting.. he's at his best when he takes control of a game.. more fearlessness I guess. Hope we see more of that next year.

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  • S.R.
    replied
    Siakam just needs to play to his strengths better, which he & the team had him doing more towards the end of the season and his overall game was really coming around. More drives and scoring at the rim, more catch and shoot J's and fewer off the bounce. You can focus on that and still take a couple pull ups a game to work on that aspect, still be an initiator and create looks for others (a massively underrated successful leap in his game this past season), still play great defence.

    Another aspect they didn't really get him going on all year was easy transition points. Let him finish in transition and get some easy buckets. That's a big part of his game and they didn't feed it at all last year.

    I say you still give him a chance to close out games. Man that sucked this year, the number of final shots he had rim out, but I think he can do it. Keep giving him reps.

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  • inthepaint
    replied
    FVV - More court vision. If you're running the offence, look for the better shot the overall team can get (as opposed to using 18 seconds of the clock looking for your own shot then passing the hot potato at the end of the clock when your shot is not there). Get versed at pocket passes to bigs on pick and rolls early in the clock.

    Trent - Drive more

    OG - midrange shots

    Siakam - shoot the 3 better

    Birch - Just honing the timing of rolls or pops after setting the pick, continue to shoot corner 3's

    Lowry- can't think of anything glaring

    Flynn - shoot the 3 better

    Yuta - post up and take it to the rim if it's a shorter player guarding him

    Harris - team defence awareness (will come with time)

    Chris - He's been awesome but if he wants to add another dimension to his game is popping to the midrange after the pick (like Serge used to)

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  • Puffer
    started a topic Areas for Improvement for Individual Players

    Areas for Improvement for Individual Players

    I have to admit that, in what is going to be (barring contact dispute shortenned seasons) the longest offseason in Raptors history, I believe there is a lot of opportunity for individual improvement. I think of DeMarr (as the dominant example) coming back every fall with added dimensions to his game. Young players have the room and possibility of the largest improvements from season to season. With most of the US wide open, allowing access to gyms, personal coaching and informal group workouts, I think it is reasonable to expect Flynn, Harris, Trent, Yuta, Boucher, OG, Gillespie to all show significant improvement. Of the older guys, quite frankly I expect to see improvements in the play of Siakim, VanVleet and Birch as well.

    Siakim is a special case I think. He seemed to be most affected by the whole COVID experience. Not sure if it was him missing his family, missing his workouts and development routines or what. I'm hoping getting back to TO, and settled into a groove gets him on a better trajectory. Certainly the last two seasons do not seem like the previous ones.

    VanVleet needs to sit down and study late clock scenarios when he has the ball in his hands. Complaints about him just dribbling out the clock and then firing a hot potato to someone, or taking an ill-advised drive into a forest of trees for a layup attempt seem justified. It's had to believe there isn't something he and Nurse could work out to avoid those scenarios.

    Lowry needs to continue being Lowry

    OG needs to polish his midrange shot and continue to work on his handles. His passing was improved this year, as was his off-ball movement. Further improvements should be upcoming.

    Trent is such a streaky shooter that achieving consistency is an obvious target. He started hot after the trade and that may have been because he was just playing fast and loose. And guys were feeding him. He seems to gamble on D too much and still has to learn Nurse's system.

    In fact, all the new guys didn't have much opportunity to practice and get integrated into the Raptor's schemes. I think I was most impressed with how well Birch fit in. I also don't think he was asked to do too much other than protect the rim and provide standard help-side D. I suspect he puts more effort into developing his 3 pt shot, which he was discouraged from while with the Magic. He quadrupled his attempts and brought his % up from 19% to 29%. He is almost a career 70% free throw shooter so there is hope for an improved result next season.

    Flynn shot well beklow his expected level. 80% free throw shooter and he only shot 32% from three and 37% overall. Give him a pass due to irregular minutes and his first year in the league having to deal with the COVID BS and facing such high level competition. There is certainly room for a big-time jump in his shooting. I suspect he gets steadier minutes this coming season. He did demonstrate to Nurse, in the last quarter of the season, that he could be trusted bringing the ball up. I think his turnover to assist ratio also improves. Just based on having accumulated experience playing against NBA caliber players. Ball handling is something I would expect him to work on, along with his shooting.

    I can't go through all the players. I'm not knowledgeable enough and have outside work to do today that needs to get started, but the long off-season, and the flashes shown by a lot of the younger guys, as well as the past history of the vets, give me great confidence in continued improvement in the team.

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