Game SIX Magic at Raptors Friday Oct. 29th 7:30pm on Sportsnet (HALLOWEEN EDITION)

[Kagemusha]

We absolutely need to start:

Fred
scottie
og
Pascal
Precious/Birch

Who's gonna bang with the big centers? The Lopez, embiids, sabonis, vucevics? You know if we put one of our skilled guys on them all the time, they'll get beat up, they'll pick up cheap fouls, and especially with scottie and OG, you're wasting their talents as defensive 5s when they should be guarding skilled wings.

Yes, you lose a little early shooting. But we always have shooting issues. This team will live and die by its defense. Besides, you can sub Trent early, you can also close with him in a lineup of death. If you start with him, you have precious and Birch, and no quality shot creators or scorers on the bench. The whole rotation is a jumbled mess at that point.

The positives of Freddy and the 6'9s as a starting lineup far outweigh the negatives.

Actually the way officiating is going right now heavily favors us.
I hope they don't go back to calling soft fouls anymore.

[MixxAOR]

[GOLDBLUM]

Killer Thread saints91 !

[Maury]

Killer Thread saints91 !

Sorry for the digression but Cronenberg's The Fly is the peak of modern art.

[LJ2]

Yeah, if the decision is to develop GTJ vs. Scottie as a starter, then it's a no-brainer. GTJ is a classic 6th man type hired gun. And even if we did invest a ton development in him as a starter, he's a UFA in 2 years and we'd have to overpay to keep him, whereas Scottie is just starting his rookie contract.

On the flip side, if we are thinking about GTJ as a trade chip to go star hunting... then that's the one case where it does make sense to make him look like he's a starter quality player.

I could definitely see Trent moving to the bench but I'm hoping it's Precious that is moved and Trent stays with Barnes in the starting line up. He's playing hard on defense can handle the ball and he's got a nifty mid range game as well. If his 3pt shot ever starts to drop consistently he's going to be really good. I get the 6th man angle everyone sees in him but I like him as a shooting threat in the starting line. Just not sure if Siakam, Barnes and OG can handle the big boys.

[A.I]

I could definitely see Trent moving to the bench but I'm hoping it's Precious that is moved and Trent stays with Barnes in the starting line up. He's playing hard on defense can handle the ball and he's got a nifty mid range game as well. If his 3pt shot ever starts to drop consistently he's going to be really good. I get the 6th man angle everyone sees in him but I like him as a shooting threat in the starting line. Just not sure if Siakam, Barnes and OG can handle the big boys.

I am starting to think Precious gets benched unfortunately. With Fred, GTJ, Scottie, OG and Pascal, you got the two guards that are top 2 in deflections and 3 forwards that are long, athletic and are good to great defensively. Plus you can play 5 out offense with Scottie handling the ball.

[saints91]

Killer Thread saints91 !

Thank you, thank you! But we need the W

[The Great One]

I smell another W tonight!

[DanH]

Game day!

Would love to see Nurse put Barnes on Suggs just to play up the rivalry.

[Jclaw]

[big boi]

I could definitely see Trent moving to the bench but I'm hoping it's Precious that is moved and Trent stays with Barnes in the starting line up. He's playing hard on defense can handle the ball and he's got a nifty mid range game as well. If his 3pt shot ever starts to drop consistently he's going to be really good. I get the 6th man angle everyone sees in him but I like him as a shooting threat in the starting line. Just not sure if Siakam, Barnes and OG can handle the big boys.

We'd lose a lot of rebounding and size with that lineup

[TrueTorontoFan]

I smell another W tonight!

the great one has spoken

[LJ2]

We'd lose a lot of rebounding and size with that lineup

Would we? We'd be replacing Precious with Siakam, both guys listed as 6-8 and Siakam 230lbs, Precious 225lbs. The concern for me is that Precious is more of a banger and tougher player. Siakam not so much and you don't want to risk wearing him down or getting injured by asking him to play C.

[Shredder]

We absolutely need to start:

Fred
scottie
og
Pascal
Precious/Birch

Who's gonna bang with the big centers? The Lopez, embiids, sabonis, vucevics? You know if we put one of our skilled guys on them all the time, they'll get beat up, they'll pick up cheap fouls, and especially with scottie and OG, you're wasting their talents as defensive 5s when they should be guarding skilled wings.

Yes, you lose a little early shooting. But we always have shooting issues. This team will live and die by its defense. Besides, you can sub Trent early, you can also close with him in a lineup of death. If you start with him, you have precious and Birch, and no quality shot creators or scorers on the bench. The whole rotation is a jumbled mess at that point.

The positives of Freddy and the 6'9s as a starting lineup far outweigh the negatives.

The only issue I see with moving Trent to the bench, is how he will handle it. I think he is a young enough guy that being a Starter is part of his image and his play is better when he starts.

In saying that though, Freddy and the 6'9s is a scary, scary lineup. Bringing Trent off the bench first makes the most sense on paper. Hopefully he can relish the role of 6man as so many perineal NBA players have (Lou Will, Clarkson, etc)

[planetmars]

Would we? We'd be replacing Precious with Siakam, both guys listed as 6-8 and Siakam 230lbs, Precious 225lbs. The concern for me is that Precious is more of a banger and tougher player. Siakam not so much and you don't want to risk wearing him down or getting injured by asking him to play C.

Precious is a really good rebounder despite his size. He gives us extra possessions and our team collectively is pretty inefficient on offense so that really helps.

But yeah, you don't want to wear out our best offensive producers by having them bang with other centers. Can work in the playoffs but in the regular season you need a guy who's role it is to defend the rim.