Time to face the truth!

[G__Deane]

Sounds like a made up dream to me. I think your real dream would be more along the lines of being at the mall and realizing you weren't wearing pants.

Been there, done that ....

[KeonClark]

I can't keep reading this thread title and not post this meme

[The Great One]

THE TRUTH was right though. Y'all just need to be honest to yourselves and the truth will set you free.

[rocwell]

THE TRUTH was right though. Y'all just need to be honest to yourselves and the truth will set you free.

The Truth is Boston. He doesn't watch Toronto or any other team.

[MixxAOR]

THE TRUTH was right though. Y'all just need to be honest to yourselves and the truth will set you free.

Yeah Pierce says we can't beat Houston, Golden State and Cavs. Our ceiling is ECF. Everybody knew that already

[SkywalkerAC]

The Truth is ignorant.

[KeonClark]

The Truth is ignorant.

You know why I like you Skywalker? Because you

[planetmars]

This may be the best thread to post this.. but one thing that I'd like to see a major improvement on in the regular season is wins against teams that are above .500.

The Raptors are currently 6-7. Some of those losses were close. The SAS, Boston, GSW and Indiana games come to mind. But part of winning is also finding a way to win. And we couldn't in those games. I don't think its the lack of clutchness. I think its more about digging in and grabbing an offensive boards, or forcing a timely turnover, or hitting a big 3 that ices it.

We have 50 or so games left in this season. I am hoping by the end that we have a record above .500 in this stat. We'll have a lot of home games vs road games against these teams which will help.

[The Great One]

Like i said this team reminds me so much of the team that the Wizards swept.

They beat up on bad/average teams but can't compete against the elites. OKC is not even an elite team and they completely destroyed the Raptors.

[rocwell]

Like i said this team reminds me so much of the team that the Wizards swept.

They beat up on bad/average teams but can't compete against the elites. OKC is not even an elite team and they completely destroyed the Raptors.

No fucking way. This team reminds me of last 3 years of Toronto basketball. Nothing significant has changed. I don't care about regular season success anymore, it's simple - show up in the playoffs from the 1st game or choke on your failures again.

This team will never earn respect they deserve cuz of April/May performances.

[The Great One]

If Lowry and DeRozan disapeaars AGAIN come playoff time. Then it might be time to tear this thing up.

I've never seen two all star players who plays like legit all stars in the reg season but completely look like a damn scrub come playoff time. It's embarassing really.

[JamesNaismith]

10% is a real chance. Lot of things can change between now and playoffs.

LOL unless you're assigning a 10% chance to LeBron being injured, there is ZERO chance we beat the Cavs.

[KeonClark]

LOL unless you're assigning a 10% chance to LeBron being injured, there is ZERO chance we beat the Cavs.

There is no such thing as zero chance. There is at least 1% chance which is still more than 0

[artreddin]

Drafting "Shooters" Difficult

The problem with the 3's falling is that we haven't been drafting shooters... we've been drafting players to fit around the old style of play to help out Kyle and DeMar. We drafted mobile bigs (Yak & Siakam) who could hedge on the perimeter and recover to stop penetration. And both are good offensive rebounders who can get the ball back to KL/DD, and have nice finish close to the basket. But no shooting range.

We drafted and signed defensive minded guards (Delon, Powell, FVV), who can also take some defensive load from Lowry & DD, but again aren't reliable 3-point shooters. The roster construction has been about getting guys who can lessen the defensive load from Kyle & DeMar, and get the ball back to them without turning it over. Like you said, we do have a chance if CJ and Serge get hot shooting like they're capable of in the playoffs. Delon and Powell are X-factors ... they really need to improve their outside shooting consistency.

I'm not sure why you think that kids coming out of college ball with its reduced 3pt line will be "lights out" in the NBA. Anyone following the game will be able to name a dozen "shooting stars" who ended up being just that. Moving up to the NBA is a big leap with the much more intense defence and shortened reaction-time requirements. (OG, incidentally, seems to be doing exceptionally well.)

The Raptors did, in fact, pick up two shooters in the past year: Ibaka at the trade deadline and CJ Miles in the off-season. What's more, they've gotten rid of some other troublesome shooters - for their inconsistency - in TRoss, PP, and Demarre Carrole.

In the bigger picture, there's the development of both youth and veterans. DeRozan in particular just keeps getting better and better... and has the confidence, because he knows he can hit the shots. Things are looking good!

[S.R.]

I'm not sure why you think that kids coming out of college ball with its reduced 3pt line will be "lights out" in the NBA. Anyone following the game will be able to name a dozen "shooting stars" who ended up being just that. Moving up to the NBA is a big leap with the much more intense defence and shortened reaction-time requirements. (OG, incidentally, seems to be doing exceptionally well.)

The Raptors did, in fact, pick up two shooters in the past year: Ibaka at the trade deadline and CJ Miles in the off-season. What's more, they've gotten rid of some other troublesome shooters - for their inconsistency - in TRoss, PP, and Demarre Carrole.

In the bigger picture, there's the development of both youth and veterans. DeRozan in particular just keeps getting better and better... and has the confidence, because he knows he can hit the shots. Things are looking good!

There is still room for improvement, the team is bottom 1/3 in FG% and 3P%. But hot damn do they get up shots. For the month of December, #2 in FGA and #4 in 3PA. Never thought I'd see the day with a Casey team.