Everything Pascal Siakam

[LJ2]

I think Khem starts to begin the season and depending on how Precious plays, he may take over the starting Center spot at some point during the season.

Could very well be. Most likely it's whoever wins the spot come training camp. Bench will be deeeeep with all these borderline starter guys.

[Dvdvideo]

Could very well be. Most likely it's whoever wins the spot come training camp. Bench will be deeeeep with all these borderline starter guys.

With our coach, could easily evolve into ibaka / gasol situation, play whomever depending on the match-up.

[Yuri Gagarin]

The bench is awesome. Im more excited to see flynn/dragic/barnes/bouch and precious playing together than the starters. Not saying theyre better just interesting. Bouch and precious can cause some shit in the paint and score then theres 3 ball handlers/passers

[KeonClark]

I think Khem starts to begin the season and depending on how Precious plays, he may take over the starting Center spot at some point during the season.

I think Precious is the Precious piece to Raptors, Birch is keeping his spot warm. Birch is a career backup. Achiuwa is our project, we want to turn him into our Bam Adebayo.

[A.I]

I think Precious is the Precious piece to Raptors, Birch is keeping his spot warm. Birch is a career backup. Achiuwa is our project, we want to turn him into our Bam Adebayo.

CP3/Tony Parker, Kawhi/Giannis and Bam on the team, wouldn't that be something

[Puffer]

I think Precious is the Precious piece to Raptors, Birch is keeping his spot warm. Birch is a career backup. Achiuwa is our project, we want to turn him into our Bam Adebayo.

I don't disagree with this in general, but I wonder if Khem is going to show us a little more this season? His off season training and work is likely to now include stuff that was "outside his role" when he played with the Magic. He will certainly be polishing up his three, and I would expect him to be working on his ball handling and maybe floaters as well. He may be a stronger presence in the paint and on the perimeter than he was last season. I would be happy to see it.

[KeonClark]

I don't disagree with this in general, but I wonder if Khem is going to show us a little more this season? His off season training and work is likely to now include stuff that was "outside his role" when he played with the Magic. He will certainly be polishing up his three, and I would expect him to be working on his ball handling and maybe floaters as well. He may be a stronger presence in the paint and on the perimeter than he was last season. I would be happy to see it.

Yeah, wasn't trying to disparage Birch although I suppose I did. He definitely has room to grow and wants to be here. But, moreso saying that Masai and Bobby definitely envisions Precious being a part of the next core with Scottie, OG, etc. Nice to see slowly building the pipeline back up behind the veteran starters again, the Blueprint 2.0

[golden]

I don't disagree with this in general, but I wonder if Khem is going to show us a little more this season? His off season training and work is likely to now include stuff that was "outside his role" when he played with the Magic. He will certainly be polishing up his three, and I would expect him to be working on his ball handling and maybe floaters as well. He may be a stronger presence in the paint and on the perimeter than he was last season. I would be happy to see it.

We got 99 problems but, uh, Birch ain't one.

[KeonClark]

We got 99 problems but, uh, Birch ain't one.

If you havin Baynes startin I feel bad for ya son

[saints91]

I honestly think we are in a good place as a franchise, it basically is blueprint 2.0. I honestly think this team is going to be six or seven players deep of being able to put up 20pts a game. We may not have a superstar but we’ll have a more balanced team that you’ll have to pick your poison with.

[Puffer]

I honestly think we are in a good place as a franchise, it basically is blueprint 2.0. I honestly think this team is going to be six or seven players deep of being able to put up 20pts a game. We may not have a superstar but we’ll have a more balanced team that you’ll have to pick your poison with.

I'm in a similar head space. I think this season's team has a better interior game than the last two seasons. And an equally good or better perimeter game, with better D all the way around. Excited for the coming season.

[inthepaint]

If you havin Baynes startin I feel bad for ya son

Yeah there's one thing that makes me a bit skittish about Birch: The Baynes effect.

The Baynes effect is like when you spend your whole Saturday at Ikea with your wife looking for duvet covers and kitchen pots, nothing is going your way, you're tired and hungry as f**k, then in the end you get a hot dog. It's just a hot dog, but you're so spent and hungry the thing tastes like steak & lobster on a rooftop patio watching fireworks.

Gillespie is an example of this quantum anomaly. The bar was so low after Baynes that when a random guy we picked off of nowhere grabbed a few boards, blocked some shots and looked good on instagram we thought our Centre problem was solved till 2028. Then summer league came and we saw it a bit differently.

Birch's better than Gillespie but this is still a guy averaging 5 & 5 when we picked him up after Orlando waived. Looked good on the stretch we were tanking but that's a small and weird sample, and yeah, Baynes effect. So I'd say yes, let's prioritize Achiuwa here, maybe keep Birch to bang vs the bigger C's (unless he of course earns his way and proves me wrong here).

Or, if we're really serious about being positionless, start our 5 best players, which are Fred-Trent-OG-Barnes-Siakam.

[JawsGT]

Barnes, trent, og, siakam, precious...how deep into the season will we go before we see that i wonder? I'll be pretty excited if they use it early on and even moreso if it works.

[A.I]

Barnes, trent, og, siakam, precious...how deep into the season will we go before we see that i wonder? I'll be pretty excited if they use it early on and even moreso if it works.

Pascal will have to be back for that, so it could be a while. In the mean time, Barnes, Trent, OG, Boucher and Precious could be fun.

[inthepaint]

Barnes, trent, og, siakam, precious...how deep into the season will we go before we see that i wonder? I'll be pretty excited if they use it early on and even moreso if it works.

Intriguing, but to me at least someone else on that lineup besides Trent and OG would have to be shooting at or above average from 3 for that to be viable. Otherwise it's awesome defence and transition scoring, but bogged down in the half court with shrunk floor & clogged paint.

I may be in the minority but I'd like to see Barnes start, and at point-guard. This is a low expectation year, might as well get him used to that role now. We need someone to run a proper bread and butter pick and roll in the half court now that Lowry is gone. Flynn is ok at that at but he won't start, and Trent & Fred can't really thread the needle, they're shooters first.

What I'd really like to see is a Barnes-Siakam pick and roll, with both shooting well enough from 3 and rolling well. That would be almost un-guardable.