Toronto Raptors who are still playing Alumni thread ....

[Rudy Bargnani]

I hate the bucks but I find myself cheering for them. F LA

[G__Deane]

I hate the bucks but I find myself cheering for them. F LA

I don't want the Clips and Kawhi to win again since he spurned the Raptors and the whole Ball/recruiting and KL-PG recruiting thing
I don't want Lakers and lebron to win since, well....lebron and the whole tampering/recruiting Anthony Davis thing
And I don't want the Bucks to win because that will be a huge reason to re-sign there in FA (although as a selfish fan, I want him to re-sign there unless he comes to Toronto)

I have a feeling I'm not going to be happy what whoever eventually is the NBA champs this season.

[Zak24gege]

I don't want the Clips and Kawhi to win again since he spurned the Raptors and the whole Ball/recruiting and KL-PG recruiting thing
I don't want Lakers and lebron to win since, well....lebron and the whole tampering/recruiting Anthony Davis thing
And I don't want the Bucks to win because that will be a huge reason to re-sign there in FA (although as a selfish fan, I want him to re-sign there unless he comes to Toronto)

I have a feeling I'm not going to be happy what whoever eventually is the NBA champs this season.

If either of the LA teams win, it will encourage more of the same player recruiting / stacking / tampering that began with Lebron in Miami. At least MIL was just lucky getting to draft and develop a one of a kind player like Giannis.

[KeonClark]

I don't want the Clips and Kawhi to win again since he spurned the Raptors and the whole Ball/recruiting and KL-PG recruiting thing
I don't want Lakers and lebron to win since, well....lebron and the whole tampering/recruiting Anthony Davis thing
And I don't want the Bucks to win because that will be a huge reason to re-sign there in FA (although as a selfish fan, I want him to re-sign there unless he comes to Toronto)

I have a feeling I'm not going to be happy what whoever eventually is the NBA champs this season.

Out of those choices,

1. Lakers
2. Bucks
3. DNQ

[G__Deane]

Out of those choices,

1. Lakers
2. Bucks
3. DNQ

This is why I'm in trouble.

I'll puke if lebron the Tamperer James and Anthony get-me-out-of-my-valid-contract Davis win a chip together and in their first tamper filled season together

[guyroch]

Watching the Hawks in last minute and they have Vince on the floor ? Shouldnt that in game experience go to a young player?
Vince winning a game may have short term gain but what is the expression " short term pain for long term gain ..

[S.R.]

That tribute/ring presentation were top notch. Doc Rivers thought it was the best he'd ever seen from an organization and fans. Masai & co. are just extremely competent in running this organization.

Now give Jonas a ring dammit.

[MixxAOR]

speaking of Jonas

[DanH]

speaking of Jonas

It's really funny watching Grizzlies bloggers and fans struggle through the same stuff so many Raptors bloggers and fans struggled with.

JV does not hurt their defence. Their defence is consistently at its best with him on the court (3rd best on-court DRTG of significant minutes contributors), and a disaster without him (111 off-court DRTG, tied for worst with a couple other heavy minute players). It's the offence around him that has struggled (complete disaster 101 ORTG with him on the court, just regular bad 105 ORTG without him).

He has a positive DPIPM, DRPM and DBPM, is a top 30 defensive C by all of those metrics, and is a negative offensive contributor by those numbers as well.

His offence was always best suited to setting up (via screens) and playing off of (via PnR) quality guards who could score on the perimeter. Memphis is very much lacking in those. So he's not of enough value on that end for them right now. He's still putting up points and rebounds and producing a bunch, but in terms of the guys he usually had a positive impact on at that end, he's just not in a position to replicate that success (that success being the absolutely dominant lineups he was consistently part of here when playing with their top players).

[golden]

It's really funny watching Grizzlies bloggers and fans struggle through the same stuff so many Raptors bloggers and fans struggled with.

JV does not hurt their defence. Their defence is consistently at its best with him on the court (3rd best on-court DRTG of significant minutes contributors), and a disaster without him (111 off-court DRTG, tied for worst with a couple other heavy minute players). It's the offence around him that has struggled (complete disaster 101 ORTG with him on the court, just regular bad 105 ORTG without him).

He has a positive DPIPM, DRPM and DBPM, is a top 30 defensive C by all of those metrics, and is a negative offensive contributor by those numbers as well.

His offence was always best suited to setting up (via screens) and playing off of (via PnR) quality guards who could score on the perimeter. Memphis is very much lacking in those. So he's not of enough value on that end for them right now. He's still putting up points and rebounds and producing a bunch, but in terms of the guys he usually had a positive impact on at that end, he's just not in a position to replicate that success (that success being the absolutely dominant lineups he was consistently part of here when playing with their top players).

I don't understand why the Grizz changed their coach. Bickerstaff had them playing really hard last year with an actual identity.... the grit & grind that Memphis loves. I don't even know who the new coach is, but he's wrecking the development of JJJ who was looking like Bosh 2.0, including the ostrich neck.

[bertarapsfan]

I dont really see why grizz fans expect? I always thought of the JV signing as a good team building move. You get a vet who can mentor JJJ, he's not an all star so he's not going to inflate your win numbers, he's humble and willing to take a back seat and let your young guys grow. And yor not ready to compete yet, but maybe in 2 years your looking to make a playoff push and lo and behold you have a vetaran guy who has been there before in some tough grind em out series.

[DanH]

One other reason why JV's offensive impact is down is the lack of screen plays they are running. He's down to about 2 PnR attempts per game, while last season (and for the past few seasons) he averaged over 3 a game. One opportunity doesn't sound like much but you have to set a lot of screens to actually get a shot on the roll (defences tend to prioritize that in their coverage), so his screen usage was probably about 50% higher here (and actually in MEM last season) than it is this year. That's a pretty significant role shift. Especially when you consider the minutes he played here compared to there.

Throw in a generally low-ish usage rate compared to how they used him when they first traded for him (and compared to how the Raps used him last season), and he's just not being put in a position to help that offence at all.

[golden]

I dont really see why grizz fans expect? I always thought of the JV signing as a good team building move. You get a vet who can mentor JJJ, he's not an all star so he's not going to inflate your win numbers, he's humble and willing to take a back seat and let your young guys grow. And yor not ready to compete yet, but maybe in 2 years your looking to make a playoff push and lo and behold you have a vetaran guy who has been there before in some tough grind em out series.

Interesting fact about the Grizzlies:

They recently revamped their front office and put Jason Wexler in charge as President. Wexler is a lawyer. The number 2 guy is Zach Kleiman, who is VP and effectively GM. Coincidentally, Kleiman is also a lawyer. They hired failed Bobcats GM, Rich Cho, to run their analytics department (way to stereotype the Asian guy, btw). Rich Cho is also a lawyer. And finally, the Grizz hired Toronto Raptors legendary GM, Glen Grunwald as a senior advisor. Glen Grunwald is .... you guessed it.... a lawyer.

4 lawyers in a front office? Holy hell. I could be wrong, but my experience with lawyers running businesses tells me that this could end badly.

[bertarapsfan]

Interesting fact about the Grizzlies:

They recently revamped their front office and put Jason Wexler in charge as President. Wexler is a lawyer. The number 2 guy is Zach Kleiman, who is VP and effectively GM. Coincidentally, Kleiman is also a lawyer. They hired failed Bobcats GM, Rich Cho, to run their analytics department (way to stereotype the Asian guy, btw). Rich Cho is also a lawyer. And finally, the Grizz hired Toronto Raptors legendary GM, Glen Grunwald as a senior advisor. Glen Grunwald is .... you guessed it.... a lawyer.

4 lawyers in a front office? Holy hell. I could be wrong, but my experience with lawyers running businesses tells me that this could end badly.

Vancouver Grizzles has a nice ring to it

[guyroch]

I was watching Raptor TV and showing a classic. It seems one alumni who never gets a mention or shows his face it seems is Antonio Davis .