Game # 5 Jazz at Raps Thursday January 7th 7:30pm on TSN

[Dvdvideo]

The guy that worries me is Barnes. Dude keeps getting hurt EVERY GAME. The other night he was limping, something about his hip I think? today it was his knee. People will say he's only missed 4 games(2 because of COVID), I say watch the games. This is worrisome.

He's fine.......just wish he would get more touches/looks.

Random........did you see that one play where precious waved off siakam to go one on one against Whiteside with 7 seconds left on shotclock? Mind blowingly wrong.

[Dvdvideo]

fred had 5 good games against covid rid teams the first 20 games he played like trash and i stand on that go back and watch the game tape or read my comments

You do realize you just described like 5 of lowrys seasons, right? He was always hot and cold, fvv is very similar, which isn't surprising considering his mentor.

[Jclaw]

[grindhouse]

You do realize you just described like 5 of lowrys seasons, right? He was always hot and cold, fvv is very similar, which isn't surprising considering his mentor.

it is what it is. if we trade him great if we dont cool. i am not a fan personally. i just dont want to see him get in the way of barnes development. also want to see our toronto boy banton develop and start at some point.

[Kagemusha]

it is what it is. if we trade him great if we dont cool. i am not a fan personally. i just dont want to see him get in the way of barnes development. also want to see our toronto boy banton develop and start at some point.

Trust the process bro.
Unlike the 76ers though, were doing it the right way.
Our young players need veteran mentorship.
Scottie is way too smart to figure things out.
Hell be the face of this franchise in no time,
but it's crucial that he gets proper guidance.

[Mack North]

Just saw our very own Doc tweet on @sportcenter IG page.
atta boy!!!

[chris]

i hope fred makes the all star team it will raise his trade value

yup it's clear now more than ever that we need to trade him for a player that knows his limitations. i'm thinking marcus smart

of course the ultimate dream would be to flip him for the right to pay a real difference maker that knows how to win like bradley beal more than twice fred's salary on his next contract into his mid-30's. maybe we could pry him away if we included a couple of first rounders.

[Joey]

yup it's clear now more than ever that we need to trade him for a player that knows his limitations. i'm thinking marcus smart

of course the ultimate dream would be to flip him for the right to pay a real difference maker that knows how to win like bradley beal more than twice fred's salary on his next contract into his mid-30's. maybe we could pry him away if we included a couple of first rounders.

[Joey]

Wow. Living through that Fred heater was something. That’s an all time Raps performance there.

It kinda felt like Bayless back in the day against the Pistons that one game, but that probably wasn't as wild as I remember it.

[saints91]

I think Bayless was…maybe still is the Raptor I disliked the most. Absolute junk

[The Claw Reborn]

Being off the grid soaked with sea water is all worth it, now back to the real world and Raptors talk

i hope fred makes the all star team it will raise his trade value

No doubt, but most especially his Market Value will skyrocket….an ASG selection added to his resume will catapult him to be the most valuable asset of Masai on par with Scottie Barnes

So all these previous scenarios may have to be revised now with him performing this well.

That being said, with the team all healthy and building chemistry, I am more convinced that a big move will not happen before the deadline. Masai and Bobby will sit it out and evaluate what they have in the offseason.

Play-in or 1st round playoff performance could be the measuring stick

[TrueTorontoFan]

Being off the grid soaked with sea water is all worth it, now back to the real world and Raptors talk






No doubt, but most especially his Market Value will skyrocket….an ASG selection added to his resume will catapult him to be the most valuable asset of Masai on par with Scottie Barnes

So all these previous scenarios may have to be revised now with him performing this well.

That being said, with the team all healthy and building chemistry, I am more convinced that a big move will not happen before the deadline. Masai and Bobby will sit it out and evaluate what they have in the offseason.

Play-in or 1st round playoff performance could be the measuring stick

Seems like vacation did the mind good haha. Good to have you back.


That is the thing about Fred, he doesn't even have to play this well to outperform his contract. I said it before, I will say it again. If a major trade happens it will likely involve Fred being the outgoing main piece to get a star. GTJ maybe another one potentially to combine with fred for salary purposes. It would happen after this season. For now we just gotta enjoy the ride. I think the ultimate goal is aligned with what you partially want, which is Barnes as the primary guy.


That said, they are developing Barnes along nicely slowly, but surely. The other reason is even when pascal plays well he is playing UP TO his contract not above his contract given that his contract is the max so ... you know you can't exactly give higher except a supermax. So in terms of ROI getting Fred into the all star and propping him up and then trading him under the guise that it is a big asset (partially because it is) is good. He will still have a few years under his belt. If he keeps playing like this who knows you may be able to swing something with OKC who really really may want to take the next step forward with two established guys by like Fred and GTJ and a few picks. Maybe its for the next distressed asset. If Chicago wasn't going to ball out this year it likely would have been lavine. Or perhaps its a beal LEVEL guy. Not saying it needs to be beal. Point is this is good.

And again hope the vacay went well and good to have you back.


1st rounder and how they perform in the first round will be telling. Because every single team has flaws. I don't think the Nets are as good as they were last year because harden has been subpar and out of shape. Durant is Durant of course. Kyrie is not going to be able to play potentially at home games OR away games in a series at least against us.

I think the Bulls are good but not battle-tested just yet. The higher we go in the standings there are teams that we can really give a run for their money when we are at full strength. At least give a competitive 6 games series depending on the standings and how potentially 7.


This team just needs to continue to grow.

[The Claw Reborn]

Seems like vacation did the mind good haha. Good to have you back.


That is the thing about Fred, he doesn't even have to play this well to outperform his contract. I said it before, I will say it again. If a major trade happens it will likely involve Fred being the outgoing main piece to get a star. GTJ maybe another one potentially to combine with fred for salary purposes. It would happen after this season. For now we just gotta enjoy the ride. I think the ultimate goal is aligned with what you partially want, which is Barnes as the primary guy.


That said, they are developing Barnes along nicely slowly, but surely. The other reason is even when pascal plays well he is playing UP TO his contract not above his contract given that his contract is the max so ... you know you can't exactly give higher except a supermax. So in terms of ROI getting Fred into the all star and propping him up and then trading him under the guise that it is a big asset (partially because it is) is good. He will still have a few years under his belt. If he keeps playing like this who knows you may be able to swing something with OKC who really really may want to take the next step forward with two established guys by like Fred and GTJ and a few picks. Maybe its for the next distressed asset. If Chicago wasn't going to ball out this year it likely would have been lavine. Or perhaps its a beal LEVEL guy. Not saying it needs to be beal. Point is this is good.

And again hope the vacay went well and good to have you back.


1st rounder and how they perform in the first round will be telling. Because every single team has flaws. I don't think the Nets are as good as they were last year because harden has been subpar and out of shape. Durant is Durant of course. Kyrie is not going to be able to play potentially at home games OR away games in a series at least against us.

I think the Bulls are good but not battle-tested just yet. The higher we go in the standings there are teams that we can really give a run for their money when we are at full strength. At least give a competitive 6 games series depending on the standings and how potentially 7.


This team just needs to continue to grow.

if the Raptors get lucky, Of all the teams I want them to face in the first round, I agree with you…the Bulls are so ripe for the picking.

….. thanks and cheers back to you by this dawg..

[planetmars]

Tale of two halves again. Shouldn't have gone that way with the team we were play but it was also their 3rd game in 4 nights, which is never easy. Still an excuse. The Jazz scrubs were hitting every 3 they took it felt like.. just like the Bucks the other night. The spamming of 3's always seems to work against the Raptors. It's probably recency bias speaking but I don't remember a game where a team just went flat out cold from 3 against the Raptors. It like never happens. That buzzer beater with 0.5 seconds sort of spoke volumes as to how the Raptors were playing defense. They just let them take a wide open shot. No pressure at all.

The 3rd quarter was starting the same way the first half went. Jazz were still hot, and kept a 13-15 point lead going. Until about 4 minutes left in the quarter. I don't know what got into Freddy V, but my god that was awesome. 15-0 run on his own.. but with a few steals and deflections on the way. Hit Boucher for a couple of easy dimes. The camera panning out to Boucher on the bench looking exhausted was hilarious. That was the Freddy V show.. Boucher had a bit part, but he looked like he was carrying the Raptors lol. That Freddy performance was reminiscent of the Lowry and bench vs Dallas come back. Or when Kawhi had his own run against the 76ers in the playoffs or something. If you missed the game then you missed a top shelf moment in Raptor history there.

We pulled away in the 4th quarter. I continue to love the Boucher/Achiuawa look. OG and Pascal with those two guys just wrecks havoc on defense. I'm glad Nurse had at least one shooter on the floor with them in Gary (who woke up in the second half as well). We need one gunner with those 4 guys to keep the offense from falling apart. And then that took us home. Freddy came into get his triple double and that was it.

OG quietly had a great game. He was our best player in the first half.. keeping the team afloat. And his defense was really sharp in the second half. Pascal was more quiet this time around. But was still pretty good. I enjoy watching Pascal when he's not "the man". He's so much better as just a jack of all trades kind of guy. The impact he brings is so helpful. Ended up being +13. Achiuawa was the team high this time around at +14.

Birch was really quiet offensively. Only 3 points.. one was one of those pocket passes from Fred for an easy 2.. the other was a free throw. Had an airball off a corner 3 (that I believe OG cleaned up). But even though he was quiet there, I thought he was pretty good defensively.

Scottie had a rare inefficient night. Only 5-14, but did take 14 shots.. which of course is impressive. 0-3 from the 3pt line, but a few those looked like they were on target, just rimmed out. 9 boards, and 6 assists. The little shot he took over Whiteside was really nice. He also had one of those put back tap ins from a miss.. I just like that he crashes the board when he's not sure about his shot.

I don't really know how to rate a game when you play against a "bad" team, and have to make a huge come back to do it. They showed some mental fortitude which was great. They shouldn't have been down as big as they were.. but that's a good lesson to learn going forward. Can't play down to opponents. And I'm also a bit jealous that other teams can trot out bench units and look good doing it. We do that and we lose by over 40.

[golden]

I don't really know how to rate a game when you play against a "bad" team, and have to make a huge come back to do it. They showed some mental fortitude which was great. They shouldn't have been down as big as they were.. but that's a good lesson to learn going forward. Can't play down to opponents. And I'm also a bit jealous that other teams can trot out bench units and look good doing it. We do that and we lose by over 40.

Top 8 rotation players out of the lineup. Basically, Utah sent guys who they wouldn't care if they got stranded in Canada for 15 days. lol. What a home court advantage we have.