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

[G__Deane]

Jonas Valanciunas had 20 points and 10 rebounds, Kyle Anderson finished with 19 points and Desmond Bane added 15 points for the Grizzlies, who won their third straight (over Miami last night)

[TheWaterboy]

Gasol playing better recently because he doesn’t want to lose his starting position to Drummond. Lol.

Aside from the obligatory "everyone plays better against the other team's second string", it's worth noting that a) there's not a lot of time to get Drummond familiar with the Lakers' (healthy) players, and b) the Lakers are likely treating Drummond's time as a potential audition for an MLE contract for a longer term period with their current core. Gasol is not nearly as much of an asset to their current core, even if he's playing well, as Drummond will be, just because of his age and his lower ceiling at this point.

[guyroch]

Aside from the obligatory "everyone plays better against the other team's second string", it's worth noting that a) there's not a lot of time to get Drummond familiar with the Lakers' (healthy) players, and b) the Lakers are likely treating Drummond's time as a potential audition for an MLE contract for a longer term period with their current core. Gasol is not nearly as much of an asset to their current core, even if he's playing well, as Drummond will be, just because of his age and his lower ceiling at this point.

It shouldn't matter .. It may come down to match ups and Gasol in the playoffs maybe more effective against certain styles of Centers . Gasol made Boston's centre look like a HOF'er in last years playoffs

[MixxAOR]

Davis follows up with beastly 1 point game vs Detroit in 16 minutes and 3 point game (1-8 shooting) vs Wolves in 18 min.

[The Claw Reborn]

Davis follows up with beastly 1 point game vs Detroit in 16 minutes and 3 point game (1-8 shooting) vs Wolves in 18 min.

The combination of NBA minutes, daily routine, feedback from coaches, health, accountability from the organization, & a little luck is what makes or breaks a career of a young NBA player.

He was never the guy of Nick Nurse, shorter leash with little room to make mistakes. His offseason indiscretion and lack of judgment if it was true didnt help his cause.

But the guy showed some flashes during his rookie season (was even considered to represent the Raptors in the ASG all rookie team) and in some games that he was given significant minutes but the number of DNPs may have a psychological impact to his overall development.

I hope he can recover.

[MixxAOR]

He was never the guy of Nick Nurse, shorter leash with little room to make mistakes. His offseason indiscretion and lack of judgment if it was true didnt help his cause.

But the guy showed some flashes during his rookie season (was even considered to represent the Raptors in the ASG all rookie team) and in some games that he was given significant minutes but the number of DNPs may have a psychological impact to his overall development.

I hope he can recover.

lol so hes mental midget

[guyroch]

Getting flashbacks of Vince ... Remember when VC stopped dunking and now Blake is throwing down monster dunks

(55) Blake Griffin Murders Entire Pelicans With Amazing Poster DunkBuzzer Beater ! - YouTube

[The Great One]

"Not clutch"

[S.R.]

He was never the guy of Nick Nurse, shorter leash with little room to make mistakes. His offseason indiscretion and lack of judgment if it was true didnt help his cause.

But the guy showed some flashes during his rookie season (was even considered to represent the Raptors in the ASG all rookie team) and in some games that he was given significant minutes but the number of DNPs may have a psychological impact to his overall development.

I hope he can recover.

Ah, I disagree. The guy got 17 mpg and pretty regular run as a rookie on a team winning 70% of its games last year. That's a lot of leash. He showed flashes and guys like Davis and Matt Thomas were slotted in to be key rotation pieces this season and they all (inc. Baynes, etc.) to varying degrees underperformed and lost their jobs.

I mean can anyone who watched Davis play this year honestly argue for more minutes? He made boneheaded mistakes constantly, at both ends. Looked like he was trying to be Jamal Crawford on offence only with airballs instead of buckets and he was worse on defence than he should have been with his athleticism.

Btw he's only getting slightly more run in Sacto (another bad team) right now than he did in Toronto. Doesn't look like NN was out to lunch or anything.

[S.R.]

Jonas Valanciunas is having another good year and is only 28 - same age as Chris Boucher. His rebounding numbers keep going up (big man in a small leauge?), he's getting 4 ORB/game now and this entire Raptors roster gets 9. Crazy that this guy has basically not figured into anyone's long term plans since his first couple years in the league.

17&13 in 28 mpg. Not sure Memphis wants him, but they need him.

Would have been a perennial all-star at any point in NBA history up to the past 10 years.

[G__Deane]

Jonas Valanciunas is having another good year and is only 28 - same age as Chris Boucher. His rebounding numbers keep going up (big man in a small leauge?), he's getting 4 ORB/game now and this entire Raptors roster gets 9. Crazy that this guy has basically not figured into anyone's long term plans since his first couple years in the league.

17&13 in 28 mpg. Not sure Memphis wants him, but they need him.

Would have been a perennial all-star at any point in NBA history up to the past 10 years.

Wish he was still here, a good dude and teammate as well.

Elsewhere:
Nuggets' Jamal Murray to undergo MRI after knee injury against Warriors

and

Curry passes Chamberlain for most points in Warriors history

At least the Knicks beat the hated lakers

[slaw]

Jonas Valanciunas is having another good year and is only 28 - same age as Chris Boucher. His rebounding numbers keep going up (big man in a small leauge?), he's getting 4 ORB/game now and this entire Raptors roster gets 9. Crazy that this guy has basically not figured into anyone's long term plans since his first couple years in the league.

17&13 in 28 mpg. Not sure Memphis wants him, but they need him.

Would have been a perennial all-star at any point in NBA history up to the past 10 years.

15 straight double-doubles.

The problem continues to be defensively. Good teams put him and Morant in pick and roll and it's basically a guaranteed basket. I actually think Memphis should explore having him guard a shooter instead of the big and make offenses get out of their comfort 1/5 and 1/4 screen and rolls - apparently, they did this against the Bulls.

[DanH]

15 straight double-doubles.

The problem continues to be defensively. Good teams put him and Morant in pick and roll and it's basically a guaranteed basket. I actually think Memphis should explore having him guard a shooter instead of the big and make offenses get out of their comfort 1/5 and 1/4 screen and rolls - apparently, they did this against the Bulls.

They have a 108 DRTG, 7th in the league, and slightly better with JV on the court than off. Hard to imagine that's a result of teams getting much in way of automatic buckets.

As ever, people watch a drop coverage defence and assume the open shots they see mean it's bad defence, and as ever, it's actually working as intended and encouraging the least effective shots in the game. It's only against the very biggest stars you need to really worry about taking away those shots, and even if you have a mobile big you are going to want a doubling/help strategy on those guys anyway.

[KeonClark]

Jonas Valanciunas is having another good year and is only 28 - same age as Chris Boucher. His rebounding numbers keep going up (big man in a small leauge?), he's getting 4 ORB/game now and this entire Raptors roster gets 9. Crazy that this guy has basically not figured into anyone's long term plans since his first couple years in the league.

17&13 in 28 mpg. Not sure Memphis wants him, but they need him.

Would have been a perennial all-star at any point in NBA history up to the past 10 years.

That play in tourney is gonna be ruthless out West: Mavs, Griz, Spurs, Warriors. Those are the "mediocre" teams in the West. They'd be fighting for home court in the east lol

[slaw]

They have a 108 DRTG, 7th in the league, and slightly better with JV on the court than off. Hard to imagine that's a result of teams getting much in way of automatic buckets.

As ever, people watch a drop coverage defence and assume the open shots they see mean it's bad defence, and as ever, it's actually working as intended and encouraging the least effective shots in the game. It's only against the very biggest stars you need to really worry about taking away those shots, and even if you have a mobile big you are going to want a doubling/help strategy on those guys anyway.

I understand the purpose of a big man dropping on screen and roll coverage but, as ever, thank you for your condescending explanation so that us rubes can follow along.

As for aggregated DRTG numbers, those are nice (good for Memphis being top-10) but the fact remains you can exploit him defensively in screen and roll and this isn't some far-fetched theory held by a small group of JV haters and it isn't a minor problem. It is what it is. Memphis has been shifting him around defensively (guarding Thad Young late in the Bulls game) to avoid the situation.