Raptors Offseason 2022

[slaw]

Precious might be a better player than Turner as soon as…this month? People should be foreseeing a sizable jump from him

Barnes is definitely the most important young player to watch but Achiuwa is second. If he continues to hone and refine his skills while improving his awareness, timing, etc. then he's the perfect center for this system - a fully realized Precious would be huge for the organization going forward.

[LJ2]

I'd be fine with trading Trent. We're not going to start anyone just to avoid hurting their feelings. I'm sure Precious also really wants to start and feels he deserves it.

First game is against Cleveland, one of the biggest lineups in the NBA, so even more reason to start Precious.

Also Precious is better than Turner, especially defensively against other Centers, check the head to head stats he does way better. Precious defends better and hits 3s at a higher clip and that's all we need out of our center.

If Trent starts over Precious that all Nurse and a great example of how coaching matters, coach gets to decide who plays, who they play with, and how much they get to play (light shade thrown at those who think coaching doesn't matter).

The starting 5 might be the biggest question going into this season.

[planetmars]

The starting 5 might be the biggest question going into this season.

I'd say the only locks are Pascal, Fred and Scottie to start. You could make a case for OG to come off the bench as he naturally plays the same position as both Scottie and Pascal in that they are hybrid forwards. Precious gives us more rim protection than OG can provide. And Gary can create his own offense and is a more polished scorer. Although that's debatable.

OG on the other hand is our most versatile defender. And that helps someone like Pascal save energy for offense. Scottie isn't as good of a defender (yet), so OG would help him too.

I personally think Nurse will change up the rotation based on match ups. Like, I wouldn't even be shocked if Khem started on day 1 since they would be playing against Allen and Mobley.

[golden]

I'd be fine with trading Trent. We're not going to start anyone just to avoid hurting their feelings. I'm sure Precious also really wants to start and feels he deserves it.

First game is against Cleveland, one of the biggest lineups in the NBA, so even more reason to start Precious.

Also Precious is better than Turner, especially defensively against other Centers, check the head to head stats he does way better. Precious defends better and hits 3s at a higher clip and that's all we need out of our center.

If Trent starts over Precious that all Nurse and a great example of how coaching matters, coach gets to decide who plays, who they play with, and how much they get to play (light shade thrown at those who think coaching doesn't matter).

It's not about hurting feelings, it's about hurting the pocketbook. That's what matters more to NBA players and their agents. Jae Crowder just proved that.

Not sure if you got that backwards, but Trent starting over Precious would be the cop-out move by Nurse. The people's lineup seems to be starting Precious over Trent. If Nurse has the cajones to bench Gary, then yeah, that's a bold move where coaching is actually making a difference.

I'm also expecting the same Year 3 MIP leap from Precious, like we saw with Pascal. That could change the trajectory of the franchise.

[planetmars]

I'd be fine with trading Trent. We're not going to start anyone just to avoid hurting their feelings. I'm sure Precious also really wants to start and feels he deserves it.

First game is against Cleveland, one of the biggest lineups in the NBA, so even more reason to start Precious.

Also Precious is better than Turner, especially defensively against other Centers, check the head to head stats he does way better. Precious defends better and hits 3s at a higher clip and that's all we need out of our center.

If Trent starts over Precious that all Nurse and a great example of how coaching matters, coach gets to decide who plays, who they play with, and how much they get to play (light shade thrown at those who think coaching doesn't matter).

Your shade is still pretty bright. I'll throw some glasses on just in case.

[DanH]

Jae Crowder just requested a trade because he's getting bumped out of the starting lineup. Do some people around here really think that being a starter vs. coming off the bench doesn't matter to NBA players? Suns were the number 1 seed last year.

Pretty sure the report had him being told he would neither start nor close, and would see a significant minutes reduction. Gary would not be told that at all.

[DanH]

I'd say the only locks are Pascal, Fred and Scottie to start. You could make a case for OG to come off the bench as he naturally plays the same position as both Scottie and Pascal in that they are hybrid forwards. Precious gives us more rim protection than OG can provide. And Gary can create his own offense and is a more polished scorer. Although that's debatable.

OG on the other hand is our most versatile defender. And that helps someone like Pascal save energy for offense. Scottie isn't as good of a defender (yet), so OG would help him too.

I personally think Nurse will change up the rotation based on match ups. Like, I wouldn't even be shocked if Khem started on day 1 since they would be playing against Allen and Mobley.

Yeah, OG is a slight question but he really should start, bringing your best defenders off the bench is a poor use of resources. He's pretty close to a lock to start. Hard to envision them starting Gary and Precious and having OG off the bench, even if there is some presumed benefit to giving OG the keys to some bench units to drive his usage up.

Again, would love to see Nick actually change it up based on matchups (assuming he insists on the small look at all, the ideal is to just start big always). Only time he's ever done that is to solve the politics of a couple of guys who should start (JV and Serge, then Marc and Serge, though the latter eventually faded as it should have) - so maybe this is another situation where that happens. But it's been a viable path for at least some guys every season since and never happened, so we'll see.

[golden]

Pretty sure the report had him being told he would neither start nor close, and would see a significant minutes reduction. Gary would not be told that at all.

This is the report from ESPN (Windhorst). No mention of Crowder being told he wouldn't close. That would be a weird discussion to have in advance, anyways. Closing often depends on game situations.

Veteran forward Jae Crowder asked not to come to training camp, and the Suns announced they'd granted the request Sunday. Crowder was informed over the summer that he may lose his starting job this season, sources said, and it prompted him to request a trade. The Suns had discussions about it throughout the summer but hadn't found a deal yet. But it seems clear his time with the team is over.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...ntering-season

[The Great One]

The starting 5 might be the biggest question going into this season.

Nah the biggest ? going into this season just like last year is shooting/offense. I've been talking about shooting since the start of last year. NN and Masai said after last season that they would like to add more shooting. They added Porter who's a good shooter but is always injured. So nothing's really changed.

The only reliable shooter they have is FVV. OG like Porter is a good shooter but he was kinda on and off last year. Trent? Trent is the most unreliable player on the team. He'd shoot 8/8 from 3 one game and then 1/12 the next game.

[LJ2]

I'd say the only locks are Pascal, Fred and Scottie to start. You could make a case for OG to come off the bench as he naturally plays the same position as both Scottie and Pascal in that they are hybrid forwards. Precious gives us more rim protection than OG can provide. And Gary can create his own offense and is a more polished scorer. Although that's debatable.

OG on the other hand is our most versatile defender. And that helps someone like Pascal save energy for offense. Scottie isn't as good of a defender (yet), so OG would help him too.

I personally think Nurse will change up the rotation based on match ups. Like, I wouldn't even be shocked if Khem started on day 1 since they would be playing against Allen and Mobley.

Yeah, OG is the one that stands out as possibly being bumped out due to duplication in some of his skills between Barnes/Siakam. Trent provides something unique which nobody else save Fred provides so you never know. Ultimately, I think Precious is the least ready to consistently start so I think they give it a go with Siakam and Barnes as the lone bigs with OG, Trent and Fred.

[Yuri Gagarin]

Nah the biggest ? going into this season just like last year is shooting/offense. I've been talking about shooting since the start of last year. NN and Masai said after last season that they would like to add more shooting. They added Porter who's a good shooter but is always injured. So nothing's really changed.

The only reliable shooter they have is FVV. OG like Porter is a good shooter but he was kinda on and off last year. Trent? Trent is the most unreliable player on the team. He'd shoot 8/8 from 3 one game and then 1/12 the next game.

So, fred shoots 1/12 first 3 quarters then 8/8 in the 4th

[Kagemusha]

So, fred shoots 1/12 first 3 quarters then 8/8 in the 4th

Bench his as$ in the first 3 qs.

[Hotshot]

Yeah, OG is the one that stands out as possibly being bumped out due to duplication in some of his skills between Barnes/Siakam. Trent provides something unique which nobody else save Fred provides so you never know. Ultimately, I think Precious is the least ready to consistently start so I think they give it a go with Siakam and Barnes as the lone bigs with OG, Trent and Fred.

OG ain't getting bumped.

This is what the hoopla was mostly about this summer which probably was generated by OG's agency (Klutch) to ensure their valuable client is too valuable to be bumped off to the bench and get less minutes.

[golden]

So, fred shoots 1/12 first 3 quarters then 8/8 in the 4th

That's pretty much what happened during the championship run. There are a few, rare guys that get infinite leash to play through their mistakes. It worked out well.

[Hotshot]

Cavs should be all over that.

More like Miami.

They invested in getting PJ Tucker for one season than he bolted and now they regret not investing in trying to keep Crowder and Olynyk in Miami instead when they were with the team.

Continuity tends to bear more fruit when you got important role players. This is partly why I don't see Golden State's winning the championship again this season.