Raptors Offseason 2022

[DanH]

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.



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

This tweet from a local PHX beat guy is what I'm referring to.

https://twitter.com/Gambo987/status/1574523663981821954

[DanH]

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.

I'm curious which skills exactly OG replicates with Siakam and Barnes? Like, they are similarly sized I guess, but OG's skillset is actually radically different and complementary to the skillsets of Siakam and Barnes. Now, Siakam and Barnes themselves have similar skillsets, but obviously you won't be benching either of them (even with there being some logic to bringing Barnes off the bench, just no need). OG is a floor spacer in a way neither of those guys are, a primary defender in a way you don't want to load Siakam with and Barnes isn't ready for...

[LJ2]

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.

I don't see OG being bumped this season either, but I said it when they drafted Barnes that at some point sooner or later they will have to move either OG or Siakam, to the bench or elsewhere because there is a bit too much redundancy in skill set among those three. I still think that is the case minus Siakam being an option to be moved.

[LJ2]

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.

Nurse seems to reward guys that defend. He talked about it on media day that most people don't notice that one of the things Fred does better than anyone is that he defends the pick 'n roll and teams run that play a lot through the course of the game.

[TrueTorontoFan]

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

offensively no. Defensively yes... he has a long ways to go offensively.. he is technically more versatile because of his speed and agility but his bbiq and overall shooting skill is not what Turner's is currrently

[slaw]

I don't see OG being bumped this season either, but I said it when they drafted Barnes that at some point sooner or later they will have to move either OG or Siakam, to the bench or elsewhere because there is a bit too much redundancy in skill set among those three. I still think that is the case minus Siakam being an option to be moved.

Not sure about redundancy. OG is more of shooter and Siakam is more of a creator offensively. Barnes, at least at this stage, works well in the posts and as a facilitator. You can have all three of them out there with a Precious, let's say, who can shoot (it looks like) and can do some dirty work, along with maybe turning into a secondary creator.

Don't be distracted by the fact they are all 'forwards' cause the Raps don't care about that.

[Hotshot]

Grumpy and slowly breaking down. This is why it wouldn't have been a great thing to have traded Barnes + other key pieces for his 34 year old NBA ass.

[planetmars]

offensively no. Defensively yes... he has a long ways to go offensively.. he is technically more versatile because of his speed and agility but his bbiq and overall shooting skill is not what Turner's is currrently

I agree because Precious was pretty raw at points last year.. even in the second half where he improved a lot over the first half. However Turner is not really that great offensively. At least not from what I've seen. Maybe the stats rate him differently. He seems to be a below average 3pt shooter.

And maybe he didn't have the right guards feeding him or it was Sabonis that got in his way.. but I didn't see much post activity from him. I don't even know if he was a great screen setter.

[DanH]

I agree because Precious was pretty raw at points last year.. even in the second half where he improved a lot over the first half. However Turner is not really that great offensively. At least not from what I've seen. Maybe the stats rate him differently. He seems to be a below average 3pt shooter.

And maybe he didn't have the right guards feeding him or it was Sabonis that got in his way.. but I didn't see much post activity from him. I don't even know if he was a great screen setter.

EPM has Turner a slightly above average offensive player (+0.5). Precious measured out as a complete disaster offensively (-2.4), though I expect that was driven largely by the first half of the season, unfortunately no date filters on the site.

[Hotshot]

EPM has Turner a slightly above average offensive player (+0.5). Precious measured out as a complete disaster offensively (-2.4), though I expect that was driven largely by the first half of the season, unfortunately no date filters on the site.

Turner is overrated by the league and Precious is underrated.

[Primer]

Turner is overrated by the league and Precious is underrated.

Correct. Precious also isn't made of glass like Turner. If you want a C for 40 games a season then Turner is your guy.

Turner also sucks at rebounding. I honestly do not get the fascination with this guy. Bad defender against opposing big men, below average shooter, bad rebounder for the C position. He's tall, that's all he's got.

[planetmars]

Turner is overrated by the league and Precious is underrated.

Precious has a chance to get into the MIP conversation. Usually they like giving that to future all-stars and not guys that turn into better role players. But Precious was really bad for most of last year.. and if he plays at a modest level through most of this season, he will be turning some heads around.

[planetmars]

Correct. Precious also isn't made of glass like Turner. If you want a C for 40 games a season then Turner is your guy.

Turner also sucks at rebounding. I honestly do not get the fascination with this guy. Bad defender against opposing big men, below average shooter, bad rebounder for the C position. He's tall, that's all he's got.

He blocks a lot of shots. And so looks great on paper.. especially if you like fantasy basketball. But yeah I agree, he's been overrated for awhile now.

[LJ2]

Not sure about redundancy. OG is more of shooter and Siakam is more of a creator offensively. Barnes, at least at this stage, works well in the posts and as a facilitator. You can have all three of them out there with a Precious, let's say, who can shoot (it looks like) and can do some dirty work, along with maybe turning into a secondary creator.

Don't be distracted by the fact they are all 'forwards' cause the Raps don't care about that.

It's not that they are forwards, it's that they have the same defensive versatility and that none of them score like a guard. A starting line of Fred, OG, Barnes, Siakam and Precious doesn't seem like a championship offense to me. Maybe Barnes develops into a scorer or Siakam takes another leap.

[Primer]

It's not that they are forwards, it's that they have the same defensive versatility and that none of them score like a guard. A starting line of Fred, OG, Barnes, Siakam and Precious doesn't seem like a championship offense to me. Maybe Barnes develops into a scorer or Siakam takes another leap.

Why not?

Pascal and Fred are easy 20+ ppg, OG and Barnes are gonna be close to that. So 4 out of 5 starters get you over 80 ppg, I think you're a great offensive team.