Everything (2016-2017) Regular Season Game Threads

[golden]

LMAO this. See christian, special1 and trex. This is the type of reasoning you guys are approaching.

The thing is, I'm not even disagreeing that Biz is a better fit for Lowry and DD. But the reason he's a good fit is because Lowry and DD are being allowed by Casey to shirk their defensive duties. That's not the right tone to set for a team that aspires to make it to the NBA Finals. The leaders of the team have to lead by example.

[Lupe]

None of that matters. Raps team DRTG over a full season was top 10 and JV played the most minutes of any front-court player that season. He didn't single-handedly sink the defense. Those are the facts.

Amir was essentially playing the Biyombo role on that team. Also the league has changed a lot in 3 years. The trend towards spread pick and roll and tons of three point shooting in small-ball lineups has been massive.

[tDotted]

Speaking of the 2014 team; 7 of the 13 players who got 10+ minutes a game aren't even on a NBA roster anymore. That's crazy.

(Pat, Amir, JV, DeMar, Lowry, Ross are the other 6)

[S.R.]

DeMar and Lowry are the foundation of the team at the moment. Neither of them are elite defenders like Conley, Allen, Kawhi, Green, etc. Lowry is good but gambles a lot and is undersized, DeMar is probably slightly below average. That's the reality. So do you sit there and complain about that and keep praying they become elite defenders magically or do you put guys around them who can correct the issue?

Carroll is a failed signing. Was supposed to be the wing defender who could do a good job on the toughest matchup, he isn't and he can't. Barely better than DeMar on the defensive end. You need a mobile big who can protect the rim with these guys, we don't have that. Again if you're advocating blowing up the team to get a whole different core of players who defend at a high level, then cool. But if you're talking about moving forward with a DeMar+Lowry core you're going to need that mobile rim protector down low, just the reality and just the fact.

This is a better argument for changing the perimeter defenders than for changing the bigs.

[DanH]

What a garbage couple of games. Another one where obvious opportunity to use JV near the end of the game went wasted. Everyone and their uncle knew we'd have to go small late to counter their small ball end of game offence. So where the heck was JV when Pat and BeBe were getting shredded inside by Harrell for the first half of the 4th Q? Geez.

I also really enjoy that Pat was back, still somehow didn't start (now we've had Siakam, BeBe and Carroll start at the 4, but no Pat) and barely played with the starters at all, or even at PF much.

Dammit. Well, at least this tough stretch is over. Pretty disappointing performance during it though.

[GLF]

What a garbage couple of games. Another one where obvious opportunity to use JV near the end of the game went wasted. Everyone and their uncle knew we'd have to go small late to counter their small ball end of game offence. So where the heck was JV when Pat and BeBe were getting shredded inside by Harrell for the first half of the 4th Q? Geez.

I also really enjoy that Pat was back, still somehow didn't start (now we've had Siakam, BeBe and Carroll start at the 4, but no Pat) and barely played with the starters at all, or even at PF much.

Dammit. Well, at least this tough stretch is over. Pretty disappointing performance during it though.

Yup! We have a lot of problems. The coach, the defense, the rebounding and the IQ. Just great.

[special1]

Amir was essentially playing the Biyombo role on that team. Also the league has changed a lot in 3 years. The trend towards spread pick and roll and tons of three point shooting in small-ball lineups has been massive.

Anyone paying attention can see the difference in the way the game is being played. More and more 4s and 5s are shooting 3s... Everyone is taking more 3s......Remember we made Scola start shooting 3s... Cousins shooting 3s.....Marc Gasol shooting 3s now....comparing 2013-2014 to 2016-2017... not a good idea

[Lupe]

This is a better argument for changing the perimeter defenders than for changing the bigs.

I'm all for changing Carroll but how in the hell are we going to do that? He's not tradable without including assets.

Or are you advocating changing Lowry and DeMar? In which case if we're doing that we might as well just tank.

I do think one thing that would help that we can do without a trade is giving CoJo's role to Powell. CoJo seems disinterested in defending thus making him basically worthless on the team (similar to Carroll). Powell has more of a size and athleticism advantage against 1s and 2s and can basically give you the same things offensively. Maybe not as great playmaking but better shooting and finishing around the basket. That'd be a start at least.

[golden]

This is a better argument for changing the perimeter defenders than for changing the bigs.

Pretty much. Basically, if either Jimmy Butler or Paul George is remotely on the market, then you sell high on DeMar and cash in other assets.

[DanH]

Raptors problems on defense are as clear as day.

Our ball-dominant guards, Lowry/DD, but also now CoJo and sometimes Ross aren't playing a lick of perimeter D. They got used to having Biz back there to clean things up last season, and this year they believe they can simply out-score teams with our "historically great offense". Well, it was historically great for about 2 weeks, anyway. smh.

It's basically a situation where some guys only score and some guys only play defense. Truly great defense can't work that way - it has to be a team effort. And this team supposedly has aspirations for championships? And Casey is supposed to be a defensive coach?

Raps just need to get back to some fundamentals of keeping your man in front of you, boxing out, fighting over screens and most importantly - effort. Consistently..... for 48 minutes.... every night.

I think another thing the guards got used to was the conservative defensive scheme. No matter who they let through, no one was getting easy layups in close against a big guarding the rim. Worst case scenario, the team gave up open midrange jumpers, and most teams won't kill you for that. This year, all the bigs, including JV, are being asked to come out a lot further even when they drop back (which is less often), so if the perimeter defence lets guys past without enough resistance, they get a head of steam and room to get to the rim.

We're seeing more and more issues even with BeBe or Pat at the 5 - because the issues are still there with a quick 5, and with those lineups being scouted more, teams know how to attack those guys in space after the inevitable perimeter breakdown. This system is also just killing our rebounding, with the bigs moving away from the rim on too many shots, but that's another discussion.

[KHD]

Pretty much. Basically, if either Jimmy Butler or Paul George is remotely on the market, then you sell high on DeMar and cash in other assets.

massively doubt these guys will ever be on the market.

but the overall theme is that we've never really had a 2-way star on the perimeter and we really need one.

[Lupe]

I think another thing the guards got used to was the conservative defensive scheme. No matter who they let through, no one was getting easy layups in close against a big guarding the rim. Worst case scenario, the team gave up open midrange jumpers, and most teams won't kill you for that. This year, all the bigs, including JV, are being asked to come out a lot further even when they drop back (which is less often), so if the perimeter defence lets guys past without enough resistance, they get a head of steam and room to get to the rim.

We're seeing more and more issues even with BeBe or Pat at the 5 - because the issues are still there with a quick 5, and with those lineups being scouted more, teams know how to attack those guys in space after the inevitable perimeter breakdown. This system is also just killing our rebounding, with the bigs moving away from the rim on too many shots, but that's another discussion.

We can't play those conservative schemes against teams that are elite in the pick and roll and shooting from outside (which basically every single top offensive team is). Do that against Harden, Kyrie, Bron, Steph, etc and you're going to get obliterated defensively. You can't ice a pick and roll in the middle of the floor 25 feet away from the basket.

[Lupe]

Pretty much. Basically, if either Jimmy Butler or Paul George is remotely on the market, then you sell high on DeMar and cash in other assets.

Nobody would turn down trading DeMar for one of those two. It's just not an option!

[hotfuzz]

The thing is, I'm not even disagreeing that Biz is a better fit for Lowry and DD. But the reason he's a good fit is because Lowry and DD are being allowed by Casey to shirk their defensive duties. That's not the right tone to set for a team that aspires to make it to the NBA Finals. The leaders of the team have to lead by example.

Didn't you know? Only bigs are supposed to play D. Guards are exempt from defense.

[special1]

Pretty much. Basically, if either Jimmy Butler or Paul George is remotely on the market, then you sell high on DeMar and cash in other assets.

Wouldn't we essentially be Chicago or Indiana?? lol. I wonder how that affects Lowry or if Lowry just leaves to join Demar when he becomes a free agent. I would argue that you keep Demar to team him up with those same players anyways. And why would the other teams do this trade??? This makes no sense and you know it would never happen.