Preseason game #2: Raptors vs nuggets 9:00et

[JamesNaismith]

Fred Van Fleek >> Bruno

[Deino]

Good game to assess individuals (and team) strengths and weaknesses.

[JamesNaismith]

Good game to assess individuals (and team) strengths and weaknesses.

What I'm not liking is Norm is not playing within of the flow of the offence like he was last season.

He is actually really reminding me of DeMar, trying to isolate a lot more and force his offence so far this year. He needs to play his game and not try to emulate someone else's. He needs to either stick to hard cuts to the basket, hit the open 3 or a quick pass to the next man and hang his hat on the beastly defence he is capable of. I know he wants to step up and be a young leader on the team but as an early observation seems to be trying to be too much like DeMar when he hasn't learnt how to back down his man and the necessary footwork that DeMar is very crafty at. Until then, stick to what got you the PT Norm.

[Miekenstien]

What I'm not liking is Norm is not playing within of the flow of the offence like he was last season.

He is actually really reminding me of DeMar, trying to isolate a lot more and force his offence so far this year. He needs to play his game and not try to emulate someone else's. He needs to either stick to hard cuts to the basket, hit the open 3 or a quick pass to the next man and hang his hat on the beastly defence he is capable of. I know he wants to step up and be a young leader on the team but as an early observation seems to be trying to be too much like DeMar when he hasn't learnt how to back down his man and the necessary footwork that DeMar is very crafty at. Until then, stick to what got you the PT Norm.

it is preseason and the perfect time to test everything he worked on this summer. him and ross both seem to have worked on handles this summer and if he wants to be a player with the ball in his hands on this team he needs to be able to make decisions with the ball by creating for himself or his teammates. i think that if a few of his forays to the rim on drives went in there would be a powell blow bang going on in the thread.

poeltl reminds me of young jv. bebe looked good again, wish he made that foul line jumper. siakam needs to calm down, his energy is a strength and weakness now. bruno had some nice on man defense and got lost on most switches but seemed to realize he can't really put the ball on the floor at this level. demar/kyle on cruise control. i was really surprised there was no sullinger tonight, seems like running is good for fatties.

[magoon]

There's really no question left that VanVleet is #15, right?

I mean, sure, he's small and the Raptors already have three guys who can play his position (although Delon can play SG easily enough if needed). But he's obviously the best player of the guys competing for that final roster spot. It's not even close, and that's with Drew Crawford playing pretty well too.

When in doubt, go BPA.

[GLF]

There's really no question left that VanVleet is #15, right?

I mean, sure, he's small and the Raptors already have three guys who can play his position (although Delon can play SG easily enough if needed). But he's obviously the best player of the guys competing for that final roster spot. It's not even close, and that's with Drew Crawford playing pretty well too.

When in doubt, go BPA.

That's what I'm saying. He is clearly the best player of the bunch and we need a 3rd point guard with Delon out so we better make the smart decision. I like Brady as well just because you can never have too many shooters and deadly shooters at that but Fred is the better overall player. He can do a little bit of everything which is nice.

[MixxAOR]

Through 2 preseason games, Terrence Ross (@T_DotFlight31) has 34 points in 35 minutes. He's shooting 61.9% from the field and 55.6% from 3.

— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) October 4, 2016

get ready for eventual cool off

[GLF]

What I'm not liking is Norm is not playing within of the flow of the offence like he was last season.

He is actually really reminding me of DeMar, trying to isolate a lot more and force his offence so far this year. He needs to play his game and not try to emulate someone else's. He needs to either stick to hard cuts to the basket, hit the open 3 or a quick pass to the next man and hang his hat on the beastly defence he is capable of. I know he wants to step up and be a young leader on the team but as an early observation seems to be trying to be too much like DeMar when he hasn't learnt how to back down his man and the necessary footwork that DeMar is very crafty at. Until then, stick to what got you the PT Norm.

I think he will settle down. He is just trying to show off the things he's worked on. He clearly has more work to do but this is the time for him to try it out. He is able to get to the basket pretty easily. His problem is when the help comes over he either forces it and can't finish or becomes tunnel vision and doesn't make the easy pass. He will get better at that as time goes on for sure. I'm not too worried.

[Miekenstien]

There's really no question left that VanVleet is #15, right?

I mean, sure, he's small and the Raptors already have three guys who can play his position (although Delon can play SG easily enough if needed). But he's obviously the best player of the guys competing for that final roster spot. It's not even close, and that's with Drew Crawford playing pretty well too.

When in doubt, go BPA.

That's what I'm saying. He is clearly the best player of the bunch and we need a 3rd point guard with Delon out so we better make the smart decision. I like Brady as well just because you can never have too many shooters and deadly shooters at that but Fred is the better overall player. He can do a little bit of everything which is nice.

i agree he has been the best to play so far. couple guys we haven't seen yet. i am looking forward to seeing if utoff can play the 3. i think the decision comes down to carrol's knee. casey knows demar can handle the ball if they are in a pinch so the question comes down to is it more likely carrol or one of cory and lowry get injured.

i asked before but wasn't answered. if the team keeps van vleet to start the season and carrol gets injured for significant time do we get to sign someone else or do we have to drop a player first to make room for the replacement?

[GLF]

What I'm not liking is Norm is not playing within of the flow of the offence like he was last season.

He is actually really reminding me of DeMar, trying to isolate a lot more and force his offence so far this year. He needs to play his game and not try to emulate someone else's. He needs to either stick to hard cuts to the basket, hit the open 3 or a quick pass to the next man and hang his hat on the beastly defence he is capable of. I know he wants to step up and be a young leader on the team but as an early observation seems to be trying to be too much like DeMar when he hasn't learnt how to back down his man and the necessary footwork that DeMar is very crafty at. Until then, stick to what got you the PT Norm.

Also when he was playing during the season he was playing with the starters mostly and the main bench guys. He's been playing with the 3rd stringers a lot so far which kind of forces him to have to do more. Or at least feel like he has to do more

[blackjitsu]

Van Vleet, like everyone is saying, is the obvious pick. Not necessarily a position of need, but he would be a very movable player. So much skill. Definitely like Crawford, but FVV is further along.

Not too worried about Powell.

[Sinbad]

What I'm not liking is Norm is not playing within of the flow of the offence like he was last season.

He is actually really reminding me of DeMar, trying to isolate a lot more and force his offence so far this year. He needs to play his game and not try to emulate someone else's. He needs to either stick to hard cuts to the basket, hit the open 3 or a quick pass to the next man and hang his hat on the beastly defence he is capable of. I know he wants to step up and be a young leader on the team but as an early observation seems to be trying to be too much like DeMar when he hasn't learnt how to back down his man and the necessary footwork that DeMar is very crafty at. Until then, stick to what got you the PT Norm.

I don't like it either. It really feels like every man for himself right now. But, that's what the offense has always been. Come off a pindown/hand-off, and try to break down the defense off the bounce. I'm not a fan of Norm trying to emulate DeMar, but its not as if the system encourages much else.

[rightsideup]

entertaining game 4 rooks and norm at the end against Denver's young backcourt. they had a great draft, clearly casey is seeing what his roster is made of and winning was secondary

[Scraptor]

Was at this game, it was a great time.

Main takeaways:
-Ross is looking terrific. If he can keep this kind of mental focus during the season he really will be worth much more than his contract value and I'll be proven totally wrong. I hope he does.
-Jonas is starting to concern me. I don't know what it is, but something is off. It's still very, very early, so hopefully he's just shaking off the rust. The numbers were nice but he got some easy buckets... other times he was just awkward. I don't know how else to describe it.
-Powell looks good but good grief what is our endgame shot-calling again. An iso for a contested three? Blech.
-Poor Bruno.
-CoJo looked great.
-Poeltl looked solid on O. On D he's going to get eaten up.
-Siakam had some great hustle plays. His hops are nice too, one of the better surprises this preseason.

-Jamal Murray is the truth.
-Denver has some sneaky good depth. Easy to forget that they've got Harris/Barton-Gallinari/Chandler on the wings with Murray (and Hernangomez) in waiting, and Jokic-Nurkic up front. If Mudiay can develop some sort of shot, with Mike Malone coaching I think this team could take some people by surprise. The four is the weak spot as Faried is just terrible on D.

When Dr J came out it was one of the highlights of the night. Same with Muggsy and JYD. A really well put-together event.

[golden]

Murray is going to be good. Clutch AF. Damn, we came pretty close to drafting him. F***