Everything Christian Koloko

[golden]

It seems like you are saying the same thing I am. Nurse plays his guys too much when the depth isn't there, but it's not really an issue when the depth is there.

Nope... we're still not connecting.

I'm saying that: Nurse plays his guys more than other top coaches (with similar or less depth), who develop their depth better than him.

Hope that's clear.

[DanH]

Nope... we're still not connecting.

I'm saying that: Nurse plays his guys more than other top coaches (with similar or less depth), who develop their depth better than him.

Hope that's clear.

Right, just not really all that relevant, right?

The problem isn't whether Nurse plays his guys more than other coaches. If other coaches played their best guys 1 MPG, would you be upset at 2 MPG? No, that's silly.

The problem is the 38 MPG stuff. If Nurse is playing guys a reasonable amount, regardless of what other coaches are doing, that's just great. And when he's had playable depth he's done exactly that, and when he hasn't, he's played his key guys too much.

This all started with you saying that minutes aren't readily available here because the stars play 40 MPG. If guys can play, they sure are. And Nick gives guys leash to find out early in seasons - Scottie could swim so he got literally record setting minutes (in recent memory) for a rookie. Dalano sank so he ended up out of the rotation - after getting 10-20 minutes in 18 of the first 25 games. Precious got the starting nod early on then barely got spot starts in the new year, though his minutes did come way back up as he earned them. Even Malachi... he got spot minutes early in the season and was awful, but still, between game 19 and game 31, got into 10 games, averaged 14 minutes - and was awful, so ended up buried. Though he even got a second shot at it February to March where he played 9 of 10 games before getting injured, and averaged 23 minutes and was playing very well.

Nick throws guys out there. They just have to not suck to stay out there. When we have useful depth, he uses it. And generally uses his key players to help shield those support guys from roles too big for them, which is why they tend to trend high in minutes. And so long as those minutes don't get ridiculous, that's a good thing, IMO. It's up to the front office to make sure the guys Nick has to throw out there are halfway decent - I think this year we'll see a better bench crew and a more reasonable minutes load. If Malachi can pick up where he left off late last year, or Banton can add a three like he showed in the G-League, and Boucher can maintain his second half success, with the additions of Thad late last year and Otto this summer, there's no excuse for Nick to be running guys so hard. If he again has guys up at 40 MPG with those bench guys healthy and available, the critique will be valid in terms of a concern going forward and not just as an unfortunate side effect of a poor bench.

[bertarapsfan]

I think Nurse issue is he doesn't trust many guys outside his top 3. Yea he goes 8 or 9 deep but those 8th and 9th guys sometimes just get 5 minutes. And he will always want one his top guy usually fred lately or Pascal on the court at all times. It doesn't help now that FVV is the only real guard, was hoping we would get a vet backup PG to spell some of his minutes.

we basically played the playoffs without fred cause he was grinded into the ground and banged up. That probably is a 50/50 share of blame to Nick and fred who wants to pkay through injuries, but we didn't have him when we really needed him and I think it's a fair criticism.

This year we just have to hope Nick let's Scottie run the team more with 2nd units and get Fred's minutes down.

[TrueTorontoFan]

I think Nurse issue is he doesn't trust many guys outside his top 3. Yea he goes 8 or 9 deep but those 8th and 9th guys sometimes just get 5 minutes. And he will always want one his top guy usually fred lately or Pascal on the court at all times. It doesn't help now that FVV is the only real guard, was hoping we would get a vet backup PG to spell some of his minutes.

we basically played the playoffs without fred cause he was grinded into the ground and banged up. That probably is a 50/50 share of blame to Nick and fred who wants to pkay through injuries, but we didn't have him when we really needed him and I think it's a fair criticism.

This year we just have to hope Nick let's Scottie run the team more with 2nd units and get Fred's minutes down.

you could even go a bit further and say top 4 now

[LJ2]

I think Nurse issue is he doesn't trust many guys outside his top 3. Yea he goes 8 or 9 deep but those 8th and 9th guys sometimes just get 5 minutes. And he will always want one his top guy usually fred lately or Pascal on the court at all times. It doesn't help now that FVV is the only real guard, was hoping we would get a vet backup PG to spell some of his minutes.

we basically played the playoffs without fred cause he was grinded into the ground and banged up. That probably is a 50/50 share of blame to Nick and fred who wants to pkay through injuries, but we didn't have him when we really needed him and I think it's a fair criticism.

This year we just have to hope Nick let's Scottie run the team more with 2nd units and get Fred's minutes down.

I was really hoping they would find a vet guard to back up Fred this season as well and am kind of surprised it wasn't more of a priority. I guess they are all on board Scottie moving into that role more this season sort of like how Cade does for Detroit.

[Primer]

I was really hoping they would find a vet guard to back up Fred this season as well and am kind of surprised it wasn't more of a priority. I guess they are all on board Scottie moving into that role more this season sort of like how Cade does for Detroit.

Otto is the guy who lets us rest Fred. We didn't overplay Fred because of his ball handling, we did because of his shooting. Otto brings that same shooting so Fred can rest. Nurse is clearly very comfortable with Pascal running point and most likely will have Scottie doing so this year as well.

[TrueTorontoFan]

Otto is the guy who lets us rest Fred. We didn't overplay Fred because of his ball handling, we did because of his shooting. Otto brings that same shooting so Fred can rest. Nurse is clearly very comfortable with Pascal running point and most likely will have Scottie doing so this year as well.

I am so excited for OPJ

[Hotshot]

Otto is the guy who lets us rest Fred. We didn't overplay Fred because of his ball handling, we did because of his shooting. Otto brings that same shooting so Fred can rest. Nurse is clearly very comfortable with Pascal running point and most likely will have Scottie doing so this year as well.

Champagnie is the guy that will replaces Otto in case he goes down to injury or needs load management time off.

[Primer]

Champagnie is the guy that will replaces Otto in case he goes down to injury or needs load management time off.

Yes I'm hoping for and expecting an expanded role for Champagnie. I think he'd look great alongside Otto as well. Champagnie could come it cold and positively impact the game in 8 minutes. Scale that up to 15 and I think he maintains that impact. He's just got a nose for the ball and snags rebounds on both ends plus he can hit 3s. Just what a team needs to shift momentum / keep things afloat while starters rest.

[Hotshot]

Yes I'm hoping for and expecting an expanded role for Champagnie. I think he'd look great alongside Otto as well. Champagnie could come it cold and positively impact the game in 8 minutes. Scale that up to 15 and I think he maintains that impact. He's just got a nose for the ball and snags rebounds on both ends plus he can hit 3s. Just what a team needs to shift momentum / keep things afloat while starters rest.

Ideally Champagnie will take over Otto Porter role in 2023-2024 season (if everything goes according to plan) where the Raptors are probably going to let Otto walk for a better deal elsewhere because most players in the top 6 will be getting or have already gotten a bump in pay raise by the next 2 summers.

[Primer]

Ideally Champagnie will take over Otto Porter role in 2023-2024 season (if everything goes according to plan) where the Raptors are probably going to let Otto walk for a better deal elsewhere because most players in the top 6 will be getting or have already gotten a bump in pay raise by the next 2 summers.

Otto is an interesting case where I think he could be motivated to stay a Raptor for the rest of his career, since his wife is from Toronto, and that's one of the main reasons he chose the Raptors. They don't have kids yet but if that's in their future they may want to raise the kids in Canada. Something to consider, we could get a hometown discount if we want to keep him around.

[Hotshot]

Otto is an interesting case where I think he could be motivated to stay a Raptor for the rest of his career, since his wife is from Toronto, and that's one of the main reasons he chose the Raptors. They don't have kids yet but if that's in their future they may want to raise the kids in Canada. Something to consider, we could get a hometown discount if we want to keep him around.

If Otto stays relatively healthy and have a similar production to what he had with the GSW, there is no way he is setting the bar so low at $6 million dollars again. This is why his 2nd year was a player option because the market is going to be much better in 2023.

Someone or a few players will be coming off the books to accommodate all the top 6 players contract extension raises. Most likely Khem will be the first one out the door but if Otto has another successful season, it would be hard to retain him anyway with incoming competing offers.

[Primer]

If Otto stays relatively healthy and have a similar production to what he had with the GSW, there is no way he is setting the bar so low at $6 million dollars again. This is why his 2nd year was a player option because the market is going to be much better in 2023.

Someone or a few players will be coming off the books to accommodate all the top 6 players contract extension raises. Most likely Khem will be the first one out the door but if Otto has another successful season, it would be hard to retain him anyway with incoming competing offers.

Cap is spiking soon so we can afford to give him a raise. If we lose Trent we can really afford to give him a raise. Otto just took less money to come play in Toronto, so I don't think a discount on his next deal is also out of the question. Otto has made over $135M in his career when you include this season, he's already gotten that bag, may be looking at the big picture now of where to settle down, and recent evidence shows he's not chasing the most money.

[Hotshot]

Cap is spiking soon so we can afford to give him a raise. If we lose Trent we can really afford to give him a raise. Otto just took less money to come play in Toronto, so I don't think a discount on his next deal is also out of the question. Otto has made over $135M in his career when you include this season, he's already gotten that bag, may be looking at the big picture now of where to settle down, and recent evidence shows he's not chasing the most money.

Who says the Raptors are "going to lose Trent"? if Trent brings up his game a notch with his shooting, defense and possible passing to another level, he will earn that big bonus contract with the Raptors.

Again if Otto didn't care about the money, he would have easily signed a 2 year deal worth $12-15 million dollars and be done with it. So what if Otto made $135 million dollars?! There are plenty of quarter billionaire NBA players at the tail end of their careers that are still going for top dollar contracts (Kyle Lowry says hi). Their market value dictate's their overall contracts. Otto has not exactly been healthy in the last few years which is why he was regulated to a bench role but who knows maybe he can get passed that and some team will bite and make him a starter again if they see him looking healthy?! starter is a whole other level of pay grade and opportunity too sweet to turn down.

[Primer]

Who says the Raptors are "going to lose Trent"? if Trent brings up his game a notch with his shooting, defense and possible passing to another level, he will earn that big bonus contract with the Raptors.

Again if Otto didn't care about the money, he would have easily signed a 2 year deal worth $12-15 million dollars and be done with it. So what if Otto made $135 million dollars?! There are plenty of quarter billionaire NBA players at the tail end of their careers that are still going for top dollar contracts (Kyle Lowry says hi). Their market value dictate's their overall contracts. Otto has not exactly been healthy in the last few years which is why he was regulated to a bench role but who knows maybe he can get passed that and some team will bite and make him a starter again if they see him looking healthy?! starter is a whole other level of pay grade and opportunity too sweet to turn down.

Otto himself said he could have gotten more elsewhere but wanted to come to Toronto because his wife is from here. I think there is an excellent chance he'd give us a discount again to stay if we want to keep him.

As for Trent potentially leaving he is a guy that wants the bag and will go to whoever pays him the most and could easily get offers beyond where we're willing to go.