Everything Pascal Siakam

[Kagemusha]

He probably meant to use the word "treadmill" instead of "middling", which would've been more accurate.

A .500 team is a middling team

But treadmill is also an accurate description.
Treadmill team is a team that's top players have peaked and has no other assets to compete. So, what the team does is hang on for dear life by making trades, adding late draft picks and just trying to hang out to our current level and watching the quality slowly deteriorate.

[DanH]

Dan, if you're projecting team performance you have to factor in the competition too.
Especially after this draft, many teams have gotten better.

And many teams get worse. Overall the Raptors should still be on an upward trend, especially compared to last year.

I got to hear about this logic how everyone around the Raptors was constantly getting better and they'd be left in the dust for the entirety of the We the North era, and they just climbed and climbed from high-40's wins to 60 wins and put themselves in a position where they were one move from a chip contender. We may not be able to repeat that final step, it's hard, but the "everyone gets better but us" logic is annoying. We have a very young high lotto pick as one of our core players, and a bunch of young contributing role players, we should be on the list of teams that get more better than average (so long as we don't bleed talent by say letting Fred walk or trading Pascal away).

[A.I]

Yeah, it's bizarre how people think that opposing team's coaching staffs are all dumbasses who aren't spending time trying to figure out how to beat us.

They definitely are, and so are the Raptors and now we're back to square one where talent and/or chemistry help you get wins. Raptors didn't have the latter last season.

I'm just talking about what had a larger impact. Raptors didn't fall off a cliff from the second half of the 2022 season to last season because teams figured us out. Even if they did, Raptors got a new coach and coaching staff, so whatever offensive or defensive philosophies the Raptors previously had will be different next season.

[G____Deane]

That 48 win team still had a lot of issues.. remember that game against the Cavs when we had a random set of 5 guys show up at the airport the morning of tha game? I think getting to 50+ wins should be the goal even if we run it back.

This team should be thinking home court in the first round otherwise it's another disappointing season.

I don't care how many wins or what position in the East they finish. Just win a single round or it's a disappointing season.
The goal has to be more than X games or what's the point?

[DanH]

I don't care how many wins or what position in the East they finish. Just win a single round or it's a disappointing season.
The goal has to be more than X games or what's the point?

I mean, that's the ultimate goal, but then you are judging your team on a 7 game sample, which is challenging. Probably best to take both into account when evaluating the promise of the roster moving forward.

[Kagemusha]

I mean, that's the ultimate goal, but then you are judging your team on a 7 game sample, which is challenging. Probably best to take both into account when evaluating the promise of the roster moving forward.

How many more games do you need?
7 playoff games, plus 82 regular season games.
Those games are enough to fire Nurse, btw

[TrueTorontoFan]

How?

both pass really well barnes needs to learn how to shoot period end of story. You got a shooter. Two playmaking wings who are at least threats from the out side flanked with shooters all around is deadly.

[TrueTorontoFan]

After seeing them play heavy minutes together for 2 seasons I'm sure it won't work. How many more seasons should we hinder Scottie's development before we decide it won't work?

You can't play 2 PF who can't shoot together in the starting lineup. Pascal and Scottie both need a SF who can shoot next to them, not another PF.

it works if barnes learns how to shoot

[Primer]

it works if barnes learns how to shoot

Scottie shot 28% last season, he regressed from 30% the season before. Not saying he'll never get there but I wouldn't bet on him ever being an above average 3pt shooter.

[MixxAOR]

Once they fired Nurse they gave up in trying to teach shooting. So it'll be wiser to surround Barnes with shooters.

[TrueTorontoFan]

Scottie shot 28% last season, he regressed from 30% the season before. Not saying he'll never get there but I wouldn't bet on him ever being an above average 3pt shooter.

i agree with you im saying he NEEDS to become at least a 32% shooter next year and beyond there is no more excuse on that front. If you wanna run the offence through him that is needed. You wanna use him in the jokic role.... that is needed.

[TrueTorontoFan]

Once they fired Nurse they gave up in trying to teach shooting. So it'll be wiser to surround Barnes with shooters.

i dont think barnes needs to shoot 40% just needs to shoot 32% and improve to that point that is it. If he can't do it then we may be wasting our time with his overall upside. He needs to keep dudes honest.

[MixxAOR]

i dont think barnes needs to shoot 40% just needs to shoot 32% and improve to that point that is it. If he can't do it then we may be wasting our time with his overall upside. He needs to keep dudes honest.

Front office have to approach with worse case scenario plan.

[TrueTorontoFan]

Front office have to approach with worse case scenario plan.

which shouldn't necessarily be siakam outgoing unless you are getting another blue chip prospect.. why do you think reports have it as masai asking for sharpe and scoot instead of just one.. because they may not fully feel comfortable with him being the guy if he floats through games at times and hasnt shown the shooting improvement he needs along with the dribbling. It isn't bad but its about hedging bets right now. Plus Siakam is a harder worker which can have value from a leadership point of view.

[golden]

Once they fired Nurse they gave up in trying to teach shooting. So it'll be wiser to surround Barnes with shooters.

They swallowed their pride and learned from their mistake. That’s a positive.

We can now officially bury the “Raptors are elite at teaching shooting” myth.