2022 PreSeason - 3 Weeks to Camp Opening - Where Do The Raps Stack up in the East ?

[The Claw Reborn]

Now i'm a drama queen? don't want to hear what Keon has to say? lol. Just admit that you and Trump have a lot of similarities. It makes zero sense to have an anti Trump avatar. I suggest you change it to this.

where TF is Keon btw? We want the truth…

you meant this guy?

[slaw]

Yeah, 3-5 seed is where I think we end up.

There's so many questions with Boston (coach, adversity, distraction, injury), Nets (shit show), Miami (age, overachievers from last year) that outside of Milwaukee I'm not certain what teams are the favorites. Sixers should be really good but Embiid (injuries) and Harden (age, motivation, fitness) would make me nervous if I was a Philly fan. Cavs and Hawks improved but how much and how will those backcourts gel? Raps are somewhere in that mix.

[TrueTorontoFan]

I am still trying to figure out if this is the right place to post the interviews:

[golden]

As for "inventing stuff that didn't happen", i'm not like golden I don't bump people's post from months ago. But you spamming game threads after game threads with idiotic FVV and DeRozan trade posts should not be hard to find.

And I didn't invent you challenging a poster to a fight here either. Shall we ask KeonClark about it?

Take it easy Donnie and stop lying.

Keep my name outta your cat fight! lol.

[chris]

Although Nick isn't in the top head coaches list, which is weird.

another raptors-related footnote from the GM survey: we now have the player who was voted to become the best player from his draft class in five years from the survey five years ago.

he's a long shot to make the team (josh jackson), but we have him

[chris]

Yeah, 3-5 seed is where I think we end up.

i could see us ending up even higher honestly. raptors don't leave a lot of meat on the bone in the regular season under nick nurse, so to speak. few teams play harder consistently, the team plays uniquely relative to the rest of the league which teams don't prepare for in the regular season, we have chemistry and continuity, and we have reason to expect significant internal growth with the development of key young players.

i think philly is going to be really good and i think milwaukee is the best bet to make the finals, but i don't necessarily see the bucks going balls out to win as many regular season games as possible. i could see a top 3 in the east regular season finish (followed by unreasonable expectations and freak outs when they lose a hard-fought second round series)

[SkywalkerAC]

4th plus or minus two spots. 2nd is a little unlikely, as is that we'd drop all the way to 6th. So yeah, 3-5 is the "likely" zone.

[Primer]

i could see us ending up even higher honestly. raptors don't leave a lot of meat on the bone in the regular season under nick nurse, so to speak. few teams play harder consistently, the team plays uniquely relative to the rest of the league which teams don't prepare for in the regular season, we have chemistry and continuity, and we have reason to expect significant internal growth with the development of key young players.

i think philly is going to be really good and i think milwaukee is the best bet to make the finals, but i don't necessarily see the bucks going balls out to win as many regular season games as possible. i could see a top 3 in the east regular season finish (followed by unreasonable expectations and freak outs when they lose a hard-fought second round series)

Yeah, if Bucks and Sixers aren't going all out to be the 1 seed we could sneak in there. Wouldn't surprise me at all.

[TrueTorontoFan]

4th plus or minus two spots. 2nd is a little unlikely, as is that we'd drop all the way to 6th. So yeah, 3-5 is the "likely" zone.

2nd is possible as you outlined ... but i wouldn't bet on that if you had to make a bet. 5th shouldn't be seen as a failure depending on the season but I would be surprised if we didn't get home court advantage in some way assuing injuries dont derail the season.

[GOLDBLUM]

All this enthusiasm is making me nervous, lol.

I consider myself a diehard Raptor optimist, in general.

This season's gonna be crazy, though. With the strength of the conference I could honestly imagine finishing anywhere from 1st to 9th depending on how things shake out. Less than 8th would certainly be shocking -- I definitely lean towards the higher side and have the utmost confidence in this squad -- but every game is gonna be a battle this year. Very few gimme teams out there -- and a lot that are right in the mix with everybody else.

Parity like never before. Can't wait to watch it unfold. Never gonna be a dull moment.

[chris]

All this enthusiasm is making me nervous, lol.

I consider myself a diehard Raptor optimist, in general.

This season's gonna be crazy, though. With the strength of the conference I could honestly imagine finishing anywhere from 1st to 9th depending on how things shake out. Less than 8th would certainly be shocking -- I definitely lean towards the higher side and have the utmost confidence in this squad -- but every game is gonna be a battle this year. Very few gimme teams out there -- and a lot that are right in the mix with everybody else.

Parity like never before. Can't wait to watch it unfold. Never gonna be a dull moment.

i'd be stunned if they finish below 7th without significant injury trouble just based on what i said above about the team playing so uncommonly hard every night basically since nurse has got here, but agree on the talent level 1 through 8 (who's your 9th team in there? knicks?)

is that enough tempering expectations to make you less nervous?

[GOLDBLUM]

i'd be stunned if they finish below 7th without significant injury trouble just based on what i said above about the team playing so uncommonly hard every night basically since nurse has got here, but agree on the talent level 1 through 8 (who's your 9th team in there? knicks?)

is that enough tempering expectations to make you less nervous?

I almost went back and edited 9th to 8th after posting. 9th was my feeling of extreme low-end possibility when Lonzo Ball looked like he'd be healthy... now that that's changed, it's very hard for me to imagine the Bulls placing higher than us. Bulls were the team. Definitely not the Knicks, I got zero faith in them. I think I'd say 1-8 now... barring anything cataclysmic. I knock on wood.

I've become so accustomed to the media, and frankly, enough people around here, under-rating our chances. I'm conditioned to work from a place of the under-dog -- so when everyone is like, "Top 3, for sure." I start to feel jittery, ha.

I'm very confident and optimistic going into this season though, make no mistake. Love the makeup of this squad and can't wait to see what they can put together. Gonna be must see tv.

[G__Deane]

I almost went back and edited 9th to 8th after posting. 9th was my feeling of extreme low-end possibility when Lonzo Ball looked like he'd be healthy... now that that's changed, it's very hard for me to imagine the Bulls placing higher than us. Bulls were the team. Definitely not the Knicks, I got zero faith in them. I think I'd say 1-8 now... barring anything cataclysmic. I knock on wood.

I've become so accustomed to the media, and frankly, enough people around here, under-rating our chances. I'm conditioned to work from a place of the under-dog -- so when everyone is like, "Top 3, for sure." I start to feel jittery, ha.

I'm very confident and optimistic going into this season though, make no mistake. Love the makeup of this squad and can't wait to see what they can put together. Gonna be must see tv.

So you said they could finish anywhere 1st to 9th but wanted to edit it to they could finish anywhere 1st to 8th?
Way to go way out on that limb

[GOLDBLUM]

So you said they could finish anywhere 1st to 9th but wanted to edit it to they could finish anywhere 1st to 8th?
Way to go way out on that limb

Yeah, my span remains broadly the same. East is gonna be a bloodbath.

[chris]

I almost went back and edited 9th to 8th after posting. 9th was my feeling of extreme low-end possibility when Lonzo Ball looked like he'd be healthy... now that that's changed, it's very hard for me to imagine the Bulls placing higher than us. Bulls were the team. Definitely not the Knicks, I got zero faith in them. I think I'd say 1-8 now... barring anything cataclysmic. I knock on wood.

i totally forgot about chicago! the way i see it, assuming health for all teams (which is impossible but it's more impossible to predict injuries), i wouldn't be surprised if any one of boston, milwaukee, philly, miami, or clevelad finished ahead of us, but i would be surprised if all of them finished ahead of us. i would also be very surprised if either atlanta or chicago finished ahead of us... they are in a tier below to me (i am skeptical of the murray-trae fit)

I'm very confident and optimistic going into this season though, make no mistake. Love the makeup of this squad and can't wait to see what they can put together. Gonna be must see tv.

i'm with ya here!