Game #56 - Toronto Raptors at New Orleans Pelicans; Feb 14th, 2022 on SN1

[Jclaw]

Sure..the fan base is dejected after that loss but whoever starts tonight’s thread gets at least a ten day winning streak (as long as we win tonight)

[DanH]

Who's up for a GDT?

If it gets to the afternoon and no one grabs it I'll take another shot at it.

[KeonClark]

Who's up for a GDT?

[Primer]

Get over it . Its sports and these things happen all the time.

If we let Lowry walk we'd be bitching that we can't sign free agents with whatever $$ came off the books. They took advantage of the control they had and have a young C which has shown glimpses of promise, to show for it and potentially a really good bench player.

I like where this team is. We have 4 starters that are above average at their positions and Scottie has shown every sign he'll be a 5th. Lots of internal improvement coming over the next couple of seasons.

Yeah, people have every selective memory when it comes to what was ever on the table for Lowry. During the season we wanted Herro from Miami and they wouldn't budge. We wanted Maxey or Thybulle from Philly and they wouldn't budge.

We could have let Lowry walk and used the cap space on Richaun Holmes. So if you value Holmes more than Precious + Thad I guess you could be upset. I don't value Holmes more than them. He's not that True C that can bang with Jokic or Embiid, he's only 235lbs, not a great rebounder, not a great shot blocker, can't shoot 3's. He's just your classic dunks the ball at a high rate big.

[LJ2]

If they end up trading the GROAT for un-Precious and a player that didn't want to play for them and they didn't plan to play and who then walked and turned him into "the best offer they could get" who they also don't plan to sign again....that's a sad "end to the Lowry trade saga"

Should have just let Kyle walk in that case and see what Dragic' 19M would play in the open market. + Achiuwa's ~$3M instead of paying Dragic to sit at home and hang out with the Miami Heat.

Get over it . Its sports and these things happen all the time.

If we let Lowry walk we'd be bitching that we can't sign free agents with whatever $$ came off the books. They took advantage of the control they had and have a young C which has shown glimpses of promise, to show for it and potentially a really good bench player.

I like where this team is. We have 4 starters that are above average at their positions and Scottie has shown every sign he'll be a 5th. Lots of internal improvement coming over the next couple of seasons.

[Primer]

I hope they try to keep him because in theory he's a really good fit in terms of physical profile and skills. However, he's well outside of the age group of the main core and is a 14 year vet really interested in trying to prop up a bench unit of young players? He's very unlikely to be part of the this team when they are ready to contend.

I honestly do not understand the obsession around here with "timeline" for every single roster decision.

We're not signing Thad to a 5 year deal.

All that matters is can they contribute for all the years they're under contract. We'd sign him for another year or 2 at most and he'll still be a valuable bench piece those years.

The only way we can bring in anyone new is via the MLE or trade, so keeping Thad is pretty much a must unless he absolutely stinks it up.

I think Thad is pretty damn happy with the situation considering he hasn't been on a playoff team since he was on Indy, and he's been coming off the bench exclusively since 2019, so nothing new there.

[LJ2]

I think its more than that. It may be Thad was the best offer for Dragic, but Bobby said Thad is someone they wanted for a while, so they went with it.

I think the plan is to keep Thad around past this season, he is going to be a FA, so they will attempt re-sign him.

I hope they try to keep him because in theory he's a really good fit in terms of physical profile and skills. However, he's well outside of the age group of the main core and is a 14 year vet really interested in trying to prop up a bench unit of young players? He's very unlikely to be part of the this team when they are ready to contend.

[Dvdvideo]

Yeah i'm not worried about it. They're coming out of hot league-longest 8-game winning streak beating excellent teams (and a 1-pt loss to a very good team), have a cold shooting night and out of a sudden the sky is falling? They shot 23.5% from 3, and allowed the opponent to shoot 45%. That's the game. A nominal centre or lack thereof is not going to affect that much. They laid an egg, weren't there mentally, lots of distraction over the weekend like others said. We've seen this before on games leading up to the ASB. They'll bounce back, on to the next one.

This exactly. Wasn't fun to watch the train wreck yesterday, but this does happen from time to time. I do still wish we had a 7ft center on the roster just to shake things up from time to time for certain match ups.

[KeonClark]

Shooting is the biggest problem with this team. They have 3 true shooters on the team - FVV, Trent and OG. The only consistent one is FVV. Trent, as i've been saying the whole season is a hot and cold player. He was red hot the last few weeks now he's cold as ice. As for OG, OG is only shooting 34% from 3 this year. That's below average.

I'm still not really sure why the front office didn't address that area last week. Maybe because Trent was red hot? everyone know the way he was shooting the ball was not sustainable.

Raptors are actually tied for 11th in 3P%. The problem lies in the 2P%, where we're 27th. That speaks volumes to our lack of true finishers at the bucket. Achiuwa, Trent and Fred are a combined 44% from 2.

We have 1 above average finisher on any type of scoring inside the arc, and its Siakam.

[The Great One]

Shooting is the biggest problem with this team. They have 3 true shooters on the team - FVV, Trent and OG. The only consistent one is FVV. Trent, as i've been saying the whole season is a hot and cold player. He was red hot the last few weeks now he's cold as ice. As for OG, OG is only shooting 34% from 3 this year. That's below average.

I'm still not really sure why the front office didn't address that area last week. Maybe because Trent was red hot? everyone know the way he was shooting the ball was not sustainable.

[G__Deane]

Agreed, the win streak clouded the focus for this season (among fans) which was always about development. We aren't serious contenders with half the starting unit and all of the bench being this young and unseasoned.

Trading for a vet in Thad is a bit confusing though. Was it because they thought it would give them a shot at making some noise in the playoffs, or because that's just the best offer they could get for Dragic with so little leverage? I might be pessimistic but I feel like it's the latter and that they may not actually have any intention of resigning him after the season. Just and end to the Lowry trade saga.

If they end up trading the GROAT for un-Precious and a player that didn't want to play for them and they didn't plan to play and who then walked and turned him into "the best offer they could get" who they also don't plan to sign again....that's a sad "end to the Lowry trade saga"

Should have just let Kyle walk in that case and see what Dragic' 19M would play in the open market. + Achiuwa's ~$3M instead of paying Dragic to sit at home and hang out with the Miami Heat.

[slaw]

If Siakam gets switched onto Scottie's man (assume that's a center), that guy can just drop back and stay under the screen. We create no advantage there, but rather get a double team on Siakam.

OG, in theory, can pop open for a 3, but his 3-pt shooting hasn't been consistent this year. Scottie not being able to space the floor is one reason why we can't unlock any big advantage with this lineup, when Siakam has the ball.

The other option would be to put the ball in Scottie's hands and have him drive it and force them to stop the ball. Problem there, again, is that Scottie has no range and he'll take it to the front of the rim which puts the center in the place he wants to be anyway.

Bottom-line is that Scottie isn't really working as a small-ball center, and I also worry that it's going to mess up his long-term development if he continues to bulk up and lose foot speed, just so he can survive against behemoths. He looks a lot heavier and slower out there than he did at the beginning of the year.

Right, but that's Barnes this season. I'm talking about what happens when he dribbles down and shoots threes in transition or can blow by the opposing 5 every time down the floor. That's when this works.

[inthepaint]

It was a blowout loss where the team didn't show up. You can't read a lot into what happened against the Pels. They lost a tough one to the Nuggets which they probably should have won but for a couple guys being cold from three. And prior they had won 8 in a row.

None of this team's issues are going to be solved by throwing a new center into the mix unless he can play in Nurse's system on both ends cause for every rebound he grabs the team will be giving up an open three and getting bogged down on offense.

Yeah i'm not worried about it. They're coming out of hot league-longest 8-game winning streak beating excellent teams (and a 1-pt loss to a very good team), have a cold shooting night and out of a sudden the sky is falling? They shot 23.5% from 3, and allowed the opponent to shoot 45%. That's the game. A nominal centre or lack thereof is not going to affect that much. They laid an egg, weren't there mentally, lots of distraction over the weekend like others said. We've seen this before on games leading up to the ASB. They'll bounce back, on to the next one.

[golden]

A big part of it is going to be whether Barnes and OG can play teams out of using any traditional centers cause they can't guard Siakam. If Barnes finds a consistent three point shot and gets a little more in rhythm offensively, then you've suddenly got guys like JV man to man against a giant guard 30 feet from the basket. Maybe you can hide them on OG but that will take every team out of its usual defensive plans.

I'm not currently sold on this group but too soon for me to conclude it can't work, especially since Barnes could take giant leaps the next 2 seasons.

If Siakam gets switched onto Scottie's man (assume that's a center), that guy can just drop back and stay under the screen. We create no advantage there, but rather get a double team on Siakam.

OG, in theory, can pop open for a 3, but his 3-pt shooting hasn't been consistent this year. Scottie not being able to space the floor is one reason why we can't unlock any big advantage with this lineup, when Siakam has the ball.

The other option would be to put the ball in Scottie's hands and have him drive it and force them to stop the ball. Problem there, again, is that Scottie has no range and he'll take it to the front of the rim which puts the center in the place he wants to be anyway.

Bottom-line is that Scottie isn't really working as a small-ball center, and I also worry that it's going to mess up his long-term development if he continues to bulk up and lose foot speed, just so he can survive against behemoths. He looks a lot heavier and slower out there than he did at the beginning of the year.

[slaw]

I think its more than that. It may be Thad was the best offer for Dragic, but Bobby said Thad is someone they wanted for a while, so they went with it.

I think the plan is to keep Thad around past this season, he is going to be a FA, so they will attempt re-sign him.

I would add that the starting 5, plus Boucher, has played their asses off and management likely felt some obligation to get some help.