What/Who will have the biggest impact this season?

[rightsideup]

Interesting thread.
I think a healthy Lowry is the one I would pick out of the poll options
Hard choice good insights to consider
I am worried about bench scoring

[Puffer]

..I am worried about bench scoring

I think bench scoring will be better this year than last...or maybe I should say bench +-. GV and Lou could light it up but also put the light out with their defense. Raps are in better shape this year.

[DogeLover1234]

My hope is that an improved JV will ease lowrys load in the regular season so he can stay fresh for the playoffs (which will be easier with his improved physical shape). Having said that i think that Carroll will be the guy who sets us up to succeed in the playoffs because he is one of the top few perimeter defenders in the east, which is nice against the likes of lebron, butler, wade, beal, george, johnson and the probable rise of guys like Giannis, Jabari, tobias harris, dipo, etc. we havent been well equipt to deal with them until now really and i tgink that will be the difference.

[Marz]

I think bench scoring will be better this year than last...or maybe I should say bench +-. GV and Lou could light it up but also put the light out with their defense. Raps are in better shape this year.

If Casey doesn't do hockey lineups, our bench players can provide additional defense while one of our offensive-minded starters stay on the court. One can hope...

[Snooch]

I think its a combination of 3 guys.

Lowry, JV and Carroll.

Those three together(at least right now on paper) should all play off of each other incredibly well on both sides of the court.

[Just Is]

Casey's still our coach so the pick is Lowry.

If the ACs do a majority of the heavy lifting; it's a combination of Lowry, Carroll and JV.

[DDelight]

I'm changing my mind from Carroll to Lowry/DeMar. At the end of the day we have the same coach and therefore similar to last season if Lowry/DeMar play well, the team will play well. If they play bad, the team will be bad. They're still going to have the bulk of the control on how the offense is run. If the offense doesn't effectively utilize JV/Carroll who are going to need Lowry/DeMar to facilitate the offense and get them the ball in optimal positions on the court, then their impact will be null.

Defensively though, Carroll out there will be a huge bonus.

[LJ2]

By biggest impact, I mean greatest positive influence on our win-totals (i.e. no room for negativity here!). Make sure to support your opinions with subjective commentary

1) Demarre Carrol at the 3
2) Kyle Lowry's Weight Loss
3) Jonas Valunciunas Maturing
4) DeMar DeRozan's Incremental Improvements
5) Patterson's Healthy Ankles (w.r.t. Amir Johnson)
6) Dwane Casey (now that he has more defensive-minded players)

1) Lowry - In shape and ready. Rare to see someone make such dramatic strides to both their game and to their body so late into their career. Says a lot of how motivated he is.

2) Luis Scola (if he starts) - It's been a long time since we've had someone with his type of post offence at PF. He could be used at C for stretches of games.

3) Demarre Carrol & T. Ross - I'm looking for Ross to have a rebound year with a simplified role of just defending and shooting the 3 ball. Not expecting Korver or Reddick levels of shooting or Tony Allen level of defense, but something between, and more importantly something reliable.

[allintheeyes]

7) mid-season DeRozan trade

[Demographic Shift]

By biggest impact, I mean greatest positive influence on our win-totals (i.e. no room for negativity here!). Make sure to support your opinions with subjective commentary

1) Demarre Carrol at the 3
2) Kyle Lowry's Weight Loss
3) Jonas Valunciunas Maturing
4) DeMar DeRozan's Incremental Improvements
5) Patterson's Healthy Ankles (w.r.t. Amir Johnson)
6) Dwane Casey (now that he has more defensive-minded players)

I think its a combination of 1 and 3.

Carroll will make us better on the perimeter. Waaaay better. He will match up with Lebron/Butler/Anthony/PaulGeorge/Wade and that gives us a far far better defensive presence than last year. He will give those big wings all they can handle. He will score some as we will get him the shots we got Ross but its the on the ball defense he brings that we just didn't have last season on some of those Raptor killers that makes him such as great get.

The maturation or improvement of JV in two offensive areas. Passing the ball out quickly when he is double teamed and adding those extra low post moves. The 10 foot jumper and the ability to pivot and go left or right. If he gets his usage upped in PnR the low post presence we have needed will have arrived.

[psrs1]

DC will have the biggest impact in how he uses the roster given to him. Yes DC is not a player BUT rotations and match ups are key.

[SkywalkerAC]

DC will have the biggest impact in how he uses the roster given to him. Yes DC is not a player BUT rotations and match ups are key.

I don't know, obviously coaching is important, but I think Masai has laid things plain with this roster. The weirdest thing I could see Casey going with some veteran smallball in Cory/Lowry/DeMar/Carroll/Scola, but 1) I could see that line playing well and 2) otherwise we have a great 10-man rotation that seems to fit pretty well in almost any combination.

[psrs1]

1) Lowry - In shape and ready. Rare to see someone make such dramatic strides to both their game and to their body so late into their career. Says a lot of how motivated he is.

2) Luis Scola (if he starts) - It's been a long time since we've had someone with his type of post offence at PF. He could be used at C for stretches of games.

3) Demarre Carrol & T. Ross - I'm looking for Ross to have a rebound year with a simplified role of just defending and shooting the 3 ball. Not expecting Korver or Reddick levels of shooting or Tony Allen level of defense, but something between, and more importantly something reliable.

Scola will be used at centre when we go small in the forth quarter.

[SkywalkerAC]

Scola will be used at centre when we go small in the forth quarter.

Yup, I could see it being very effective too. Makes us a lot more dynamic than Hansbrough there to close out the game.

Jonas will get more and more of those minutes as well, matchups depending.

[Kuh]

OK, according to the totally subjective analysis using WP48 numbers from BoxScoreGeeks, Demarre Carroll at the 3 is a close winner over more defensive-minded players (Bismack + Cory over Tyler + Greivis). Everything else is minor impact only.

1. Demarre Carroll WP/48 of .205 replaces TRoss minutes with WP/48 of .021 = +8.9 wins*
2. Kyle Lowry weight loss improves WP/48 from .139 to .210 (his average at start of season) = +3.3 wins
3. Jonas Valanciunas maturing improves WP/48 from .188 to .230 (fifth best center in the league) = +1.8 wins
4. DeMar Derozan improves WP/48 from .052 to .120 (his best ever is .096) = +3.0 wins
5. Patterson vs. Amir is trickier. Patterson had 2156 minutes last year, second most on the team. I guess the real question is Patterson + Scola vs. Amir + Patterson. That's a fall in WP/48 on the Amir to Scola minutes from .138 to .096 = -1.7 wins
6. Defensive-minded players gives us +8.3 wins
- Bismack replaces Hansbrough: WP/48 from .122 to .258 = +2.9 wins
- CoJo replaces Greivis: WP/48 from .054 to .186 = +5.4 wins

*However, if TRoss minutes replace Lou Williams, WP/48 falls from .141 to .021 = -5.0 wins

Overall, the team should be a bit better than last year, with the losses from the Lou-TRoss and Amir-Scola downgrades smaller than the Demarre + defense gains. And I'm not going to count on the magic Valanciunas and DD upgrades.