Preseason Game One: Philadelphia 76ers at Toronto Raptors - Mon Oct 4th, 7pm ET - SN1

[saints91]

I wouldn't mind one big body on the roster not named Gillespie. A vet like Derrick Favours would be a good get for those bigger matchups... I guess he would have to be content with getting a DNPCD in 3/4's of the games.

[SkywalkerAC]

I wouldn't mind one big body on the roster not named Gillespie. A vet like Derrick Favours would be a good get for those bigger matchups... I guess he would have to be content with getting a DNPCD in 3/4's of the games.

I don't really see the point. We've got 3 guys in the spot already (Birch, Boucher, and Precious) and others that will help close out games there (Scottie) - and they all fit what we're trying to do. Other teams want to go big - we'll punish them just like we did last night.

[saints91]

I think Boucher is redundant. I'd rather have the "use this to break glass" guy if we need him in those bigger matchups. We have Pascal, OG, Khem, Precious, Scottie, and Yuta that all can play the 4 and small ball 5.

Watching Drummond go to town on our bigs was telling, and Boucher is not the guy that is going to stop that.

[The Great One]

If Banton develops a consistent mid range jump shot, he is Shaun Livingston 2.0.

[Primer]

Regarding centers, seems like everyone is assuming it's a one way game and not considering our advantage on the offensive end against crap lumbering centers like Drummond. There is a reason his +/- is always a minus. What he gets on offense he more than gives away on the other end. I welcome teams trying to beat us by pounding the ball inside to Drummond types. The answer isn't to give up our advantage by putting in an even shittier version of Drummond to try and counter him (whoever we find that big is gonna suck). Make teams adjust to us, not the other way around, that's one of the main points of positionless basketball. If they wanna play Drummond they better be prepared to give up a bazillion transition baskets while Drummond lumbers back on defense. You guys are inventing a problem where there isn't one. We won by 16 and Drummond was a huge part of that.

[saints91]

Drummond isn’t the player I’m worried about.

It’s never a bad idea to have options. Not saying we change our playing style, and I agree we have advantage against the shitty lumbering 5’s. BUT, if we’re getting pounded inside, it would be nice to have that guy to throw in there. I’m not proposing to give any of our core players to get a guy like that.

[Bendit]

Drummond isn’t the player I’m worried about.

It’s never a bad idea to have options. Not saying we change our playing style, and I agree we have advantage against the shitty lumbering 5’s. BUT, if we’re getting pounded inside, it would be nice to have that guy to throw in there. I’m not proposing to give any of our core players to get a guy like that.

Not everyone was used this game ... need to give time on how to handle opponents like Drummond / Embiid. Next game is Thurs. against the same team ... let's see how NN makes adjustments defending their Cs.

[Hotshot]

I did not see enough to form a real opinion on: Bonga, Dekker, Ish, Johnson.

Did not like what I saw from Johnson in the few minutes he had.

Looked for his shot first than pass second.

A bit passive on the defensive end.

Seems he lacks the energy or intensity at times.

[LJ2]

I think Boucher is redundant. I'd rather have the "use this to break glass" guy if we need him in those bigger matchups. We have Pascal, OG, Khem, Precious, Scottie, and Yuta that all can play the 4 and small ball 5.

Watching Drummond go to town on our bigs was telling, and Boucher is not the guy that is going to stop that.

Meh, they went to Drummond for the same reason the will go to Embiid. He was the best player on the floor for Philly (sad) and because Raps D was swarming everyone else. They can't switch and do that with a big slow player at C. Raps won the battle everywhere else and you gotta think eventually the strategy is to run the opposing teams big off the floor for not being able to stay in front of our players. precious was able to get open shots which Drummond didn't want to come out and contest and to his credit he was able to hit his shots yesterday.

[bertarapsfan]

I get the concerns about the C but don't know how much it matter to be honest considering were we are at in the retooling process.
Their isn't that many big bruising C anymore to justify going out of the way to carry someone to defend those guys... The real time you want a guy like that on the roster is if you have championship aspirations and want to be able to have the matchup. I.E a playoff series... I mean if we exceed expectations make the 2nd round and lose to the 6ers cause Khem cant defend Joel then so be it.
If we can get a young cheap guy like Moses brown thatd be great, But i don't think we should pass over potential young players just carry a big body..
If i had a choice id rather develop guys like Banton then bring some big body like Derrick Favours on

[SkywalkerAC]

I think Boucher is redundant. I'd rather have the "use this to break glass" guy if we need him in those bigger matchups. We have Pascal, OG, Khem, Precious, Scottie, and Yuta that all can play the 4 and small ball 5.

Watching Drummond go to town on our bigs was telling, and Boucher is not the guy that is going to stop that.

How is a 6th man of the year candidate that fits pretty uch exactly what we're doing at the centre position - especially with 3s and ability to contest 3s - more redundant than a big body that will never play? Boucher might be expendable because we're so deep, but if the modern game is making anything redundant it's the big-bodied centre.

[Primer]

There is no one available that 1 on 1 stops Embiid. So no matter what big fat 7 footer we add he's not stopping Embiid. You treat Embiid like any other elite offensive player and double team him. We can do that with Precious or Birch + one of our other 6'9" players. We don't need to add a big fat 7 footer because they wouldn't make a difference anyways.

[slaw]

I get the concerns about the C but don't know how much it matter to be honest considering were we are at in the retooling process.
Their isn't that many big bruising C anymore to justify going out of the way to carry someone to defend those guys... The real time you want a guy like that on the roster is if you have championship aspirations and want to be able to have the matchup. I.E a playoff series... I mean if we exceed expectations make the 2nd round and lose to the 6ers cause Khem cant defend Joel then so be it.
If we can get a young cheap guy like Moses brown thatd be great, But i don't think we should pass over potential young players just carry a big body..
If i had a choice id rather develop guys like Banton then bring some big body like Derrick Favours on

Generally agree. I do think there is some legitimate concern given last season and how much the Raps collective inability to defend the paint and rebound, coupled with all the fouls, affected the rest of the game. Dynamics are certainly different this season, so we will have to see how it goes.

[S.R.]

There is no one available that 1 on 1 stops Embiid. So no matter what big fat 7 footer we add he's not stopping Embiid. You treat Embiid like any other elite offensive player and double team him. We can do that with Precious or Birch + one of our other 6'9" players. We don't need to add a big fat 7 footer because they wouldn't make a difference anyways.

Yeah. That one series vs Philly set an unrealistic expectation, I think. Embiid's career averages are 24+11 in the regular season and 24+11 in the playoffs. You just don't stop these guys totally (not any of the top players, at any position). Even with all that, Embiid's never been past the second round. You take the cliche approach to superstars, whether guards or wings or bigs: throw different looks at them, make them work, and beat them as a team. Especially when it comes to bigs, you'll still aim for the basic 3 > 2 advantage. Last night with Drummond was a perfect example - he had a pretty easy looking drop-step layup vs Precious at one end, Raps came back down the floor and Precious hit a step back 3 at the other end. Have fun with your layups Drummond, you can't defend out to the 3 pt line and you're a net negative for your team. That's going to be true for a bunch of bigs vs the athleticism and mobility of the Raptors, and a bunch of guards are going to be small. The Raptors philosophy here that players with this size and skill set are going to outmatch a lot of opponents - to mobile for the big guys, too big for the small guys - this is really interesting. You play to your strengths and beat the other guys as a team.

All that said - yeah you need a big body or two to throw at a dominant big. But it might only be 20 minutes of Khem Birch, then all the other looks. It's not going to be 38 minutes of Marc Gasol, that's just not happening.

[LJ2]

Something I noted yesterday was how few half court sets Raps seemed to be in. They just kept running even when there didn't seem like there were any fast break opportunities. It definitely looked like they were purposely running the ball into the teeth of the defense and looking for cutters or shooters that have spotted up. They're experimenting with some wild and crazy stuff, I like it!