you're biggest gripe about the raps this season - area for improvement

[koncept]

what's your biggest complaint about the raptors this season so far? if you were the GM or coach what 1 thing would you change?

-JVs playing time?
-ISO play overkill?
-Defensive focus?
-GV?

lets hear it

[Puffer]

Tempted to say more JV in the 4th, but about half the time I think Casey's decision to not play JV could be justified. I would be tempted to say less GV and more JJ in the 4th. That gives you better D and not much of a drop off in O because what GV isn't shooting, Lou and Lowry can shoot, with JJ to rebound and defend and drive. I haven't noticed any teams rushing to close out on GV lately and his turnovers seem to ramp up...not to mention silly fouls which put teams into bonus situations with 8 minutes left it seems.

[e_wheazhy_]

Tempted to say more JV in the 4th, but about half the time I think Casey's decision to not play JV could be justified. I would be tempted to say less GV and more JJ in the 4th. That gives you better D and not much of a drop off in O because what GV isn't shooting, Lou and Lowry can shoot, with JJ to rebound and defend and drive. I haven't noticed any teams rushing to close out on GV lately and his turnovers seem to ramp up...not to mention silly fouls which put teams into bonus situations with 8 minutes left it seems.

I second this. I don't understand why GV is still being given clutch minutes seeing that he isn't clutch. He thinks he is clutch, and while that may work for some (Kobe) it doesn't work for him, and he ends up being a more expensive Alan Anderson

[bryan colangelo]

Our half-court offense and off the ball-movement. I'm not as annoyed by 'iso-heavy' play as most people here but we need to full repertoire of ways to score.

Better pick-and-roll defense and passing from Ross and JV.

[mcHAPPY]

Casey going away from what is working to try and match up with a team desperate to find something that is working.

If it ain't broke don't fix it. If it stops working, then try something new....including benching JV or whoever helped control the game.


Keep being aggressive when you're winning versus reactive to the losing team. Make them stop you before you worry about stopping them.

[bryan colangelo]

Stop trying to slow the game down after building a lead in the fourth quarter; see what happens. Maybe this team is just better when it plays fast.

[Superjudge]

Refs.

[iblastoff]

casey is a defensive first coach so he is always going to react to the opposing teams lineup rather than push out a lineup that has an offensive edge instead. although i'm still bewildered as to how much playing time vasquez got in the 4th quarter vs portland and no james johnson sighting at all.

thats probably been the most perplexed i've been this season.

[3inthekeon]

Vasquez dismal play this year has to be my biggest gripe. Masai placed a lot of faith in both resigning him and not having a 3rd PG on the roster.
I think I know why GV is playing the 4th, he assumes a lot of the PG duties, while Kyle is SG since Kyle's the only guy on the roster that can consistently penetrate with DD out. Saves Kyle some wear and tear having GV taking on a lot of the ball handling duties. Problem is, as people have pointed out, the benefit of a fresher Kyle seems to be more than negated by GV launching far too many bricks, as well as the defensive downgrade when he's on the court.

Rarely criticise DD, but he was forcing far too many shots this year, especially mid-range jumpers. Easy for us to say that DD should see by the way our offence functioned without him that a lot of those shots were unnecessary. Thing is, he has what TRoss lacks somewhat and that is a ton of confidence in himself, He'll keep shooting those jumpers contested or not because he truly believes he can make them ( similar to Vasquez overconfidence issues). If DeMar plays to his strengths - keeps attacking, but trusts his teammates more rather than forcing bad jumpers, this team can be truly elite.

[iblastoff]

Vasquez dismal play this year has to be my biggest gripe. Masai placed a lot of faith in both resigning him and not having a 3rd PG on the roster.
I think I know why GV is playing the 4th, he assumes a lot of the PG duties, while Kyle is SG since Kyle's the only guy on the roster that can consistently penetrate with DD out. Saves Kyle some wear and tear having GV taking on a lot of the ball handling duties. Problem is, as people have pointed out, the benefit of a fresher Kyle seems to be more than negated by GV launching far too many bricks, as well as the defensive downgrade when he's on the court.

Rarely criticise DD, but he was forcing far too many shots this year, especially mid-range jumpers. Easy for us to say that DD should see by the way our offence functioned without him that a lot of those shots were unnecessary. Thing is, he has what TRoss lacks somewhat and that is a ton of confidence in himself, He'll keep shooting those jumpers contested or not because he truly believes he can make them ( similar to Vasquez overconfidence issues). If DeMar plays to his strengths - keeps attacking, but trusts his teammates more rather than forcing bad jumpers, this team can be truly elite.

in terms of drives per game, lowry is 17th in the league. DD is actually not that far behind at 23rd in the league. although obviously lowry doesn't have to rely on it as much as demar does. of course sample size is small this year for derozan, but last year he was also 23rd in the league.

if he actually just drove 2-3 more times a game, he'd be top 10 in drives per game.

[3inthekeon]

in terms of drives per game, lowry is 17th in the league. DD is actually not that far behind at 23rd in the league. although obviously lowry doesn't have to rely on it as much as demar does. of course sample size is small this year for derozan, but last year he was also 23rd in the league.

if he actually just drove 2-3 more times a game, he'd be top 10 in drives per game.

Just curious, where can I find these stats? Link would be great, thanks.

[iblastoff]

Just curious, where can I find these stats? Link would be great, thanks.

http://stats.nba.com/tracking/#!/pla...dir=1&CF=GP*E*

the one annoying part is i cant seem to filter it so its just SG's. because the majority of the top attackers are all PG's.

[golden]

In no particular order.....

1) ISO overload
2) Vasquez heat checks & brain farts
3) Vasquez defense
4) Lou's contested step back 3's
5) No JV in the 4th quarter
6) Lowry 1 vs. 5 suicide bomber missions
7) Not enough pick & roll feeding bigs
8) Overall defensive slippage

[rightsideup]

I guess I have small grips one is GV consistency he seems not to put two good games in a row compared to last year. Both tross and kyle are not hitting threes at the same percentage as last year with an emphasis on tross. We are missing demar but the reason we are playing better is that JJ and lou have increased our talent level. I do think we should have a third point guard and I think that keeping Greg was not as easy a decision that Casey and Masai made it out to be. We were very effective closing quarters with lou in isolation but teams are picking up on that so we need some other plays.

[iblastoff]

another huge gripe is amir johnson falling apart. dude is only 27 and if his ankles were still golden, he should be part of the long term plan of this new successful raptors team. too bad that doesnt seem to be happening.