Everything 2018 Off Season

[G__Deane]

Story: Meet China's Abudushalamu Abudurexiti, the NBA draft's mystery man. He's worked out for eight teams so far, including the Brooklyn Nets, Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks, Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz. https://t.co/CE7GKJkV3w

— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) May 10, 2018

new bruno

Or Yao Ming
Abudushalamu Abudurexiti – pronounced Ah-BOO-Doo-Shah-LAH-Moo Ah-BOO-Doo-Rex-EE-Tee
It would be worth signing him just to hear jack try to pronounce his name, I see both Doo Doo and Exciting in his name ....

[Barolt]

My gut says Jak will be fine. Center is a hard position to play in the league, and the Raptors ask a lot of their centers with their defensive schemes. He had a rough playoffs, but he's still young.

[007]

Or Yao Ming
Abudushalamu Abudurexiti – pronounced Ah-BOO-Doo-Shah-LAH-Moo Ah-BOO-Doo-Rex-EE-Tee
It would be worth signing him just to hear jack try to pronounce his name, I see both Doo Doo and Exciting in his name ....

Get both him and Kostas Antetokounmpo on the team, and we're set

[slaw]

They don't. The setup right now makes more money. I'm not even sure they want to fire Casey either because he guarantees ~50 regular season wins with this team. Any change could potentially lower that number and lower playoff revenue (like if we drop to 5th seed and play LeBron in round 1 so they only get one round of revenue instead of 2).

The Raptors are really, really similar to Arsenal at the moment. Priority is making money first and winning a title a very distant 2nd.

You sound pretty certain for someone who has no clue what he is talking about when it comes to what MLSE wants or will approve.....

[slaw]

Story: Meet China's Abudushalamu Abudurexiti, the NBA draft's mystery man. He's worked out for eight teams so far, including the Brooklyn Nets, Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks, Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz. https://t.co/CE7GKJkV3w

— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) May 10, 2018

new bruno

How did he do against the chair?

[white men can't jump]

My gut says Jak will be fine. Center is a hard position to play in the league, and the Raptors ask a lot of their centers with their defensive schemes. He had a rough playoffs, but he's still young.

Well he's always struggled with boxing out and the physical aspect of the game. And his offence hasn't really shown any growth. His shot is generally awkward and he doesn't have any power game to speak of. Not sure what his ceiling is but depending on deals Masai is working, I would be totally fine with trading Poeltl if it can help improve value of a deal to move one of our big contracts.

He's looking more and more like a Mason Plumlee level player to me. A fringe starter or good backup.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

[Barolt]

Well he's always struggled with boxing out and the physical aspect of the game. And his offence hasn't really shown any growth. His shot is generally awkward and he doesn't have any power game to speak of. Not sure what his ceiling is but depending on deals Masai is working, I would be totally fine with trading Poeltl if it can help improve value of a deal to move one of our big contracts.

He's looking more and more like a Mason Plumlee level player to me. A fringe starter or good backup.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

LOTS of young centers struggle with the physical aspects of transition to the NBA. Jak is not at all unique in this aspect. As far as his offensive game, that's just not true. He doesn't have an obvious offensive game, but he has great hands around the basket and is an efficient finisher, and is good as a screener. He wasn't good offensively with the starters, because they were bad at utilizing those aspects of his game.

Jak will never be a shot creator in and of himself, but he is a guy who can be utilized to improve your offense if you actually run plays and have off-ball movement.

[MixxAOR]

How did he do against the chair?

10-0 chair won

[Other Scott]

Do we think Jak could have a ceiling as high as Clint Capela?

I think Jak's problem rebounding is being able to make that transition from challenging a shot to rebounding. He's clearly a good rebounder in terms of instincts and positioning because he's an excellent offensive rebounder. The problem is that when he challenges a shot he's slow to adjust back into rebounding mode and thus relies on his team-mates to crack back and rebound for him. JV is a good example of someone who can make that transition well, though I would say Jakob leaves his feet to challenge a lot more than JV does (not a bad thing in itself for a center, but landing, turning around, boxing out, then picking out where the ball is going and jumping is an awful lot of steps.)

[Rudy Bargnani]

Ibaka might be a back up Center next year instead of a starting 4. IE Jak may be competing with Serge for backup duty.

[Barolt]

Do we think Jak could have a ceiling as high as Clint Capela?

I think Jak's problem rebounding is being able to make that transition from challenging a shot to rebounding. He's clearly a good rebounder in terms of instincts and positioning because he's an excellent offensive rebounder. The problem is that when he challenges a shot he's slow to adjust back into rebounding mode and thus relies on his team-mates to crack back and rebound for him. JV is a good example of someone who can make that transition well, though I would say Jakob leaves his feet to challenge a lot more than JV does (not a bad thing in itself for a center, but landing, turning around, boxing out, then picking out where the ball is going and jumping is an awful lot of steps.)

Part of this isn't even Jak... the Raptors were just AWFUL this year at helping the helper. They give up a ton of penetration to perimeter players, forcing the center to rotate over to contest the shot, and then no one rotates to help on the boards. That's not necessarily on the center.

[white men can't jump]

LOTS of young centers struggle with the physical aspects of transition to the NBA. Jak is not at all unique in this aspect. As far as his offensive game, that's just not true. He doesn't have an obvious offensive game, but he has great hands around the basket and is an efficient finisher, and is good as a screener. He wasn't good offensively with the starters, because they were bad at utilizing those aspects of his game.

Jak will never be a shot creator in and of himself, but he is a guy who can be utilized to improve your offense if you actually run plays and have off-ball movement.

He's not just struggling because he's skinny though. He is soft and has poor fundamentals on boxing out. I've seen young, skinnier players fight way better/harder.

His offensive game is an issue. He is effectively useless outside the paint, and has no power game in the post. Also his screening leaves a lot to be desired. A big reason we lost game 4 to the Wiz was they could pack the paint with him on the court. He would catch the ball in the mid-range and just have to wait and stall the offence far too often, even if wide open. You would need stellar shooting at all 4 other positions to make up for it.

He made pretty much zero progress in his areas of weakness this past season. Just played with more confidence/experience in his areas of strength.

I just see no reason to really be attached to him long-term. May be better to sell high while he's young.

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[Other Scott]

Part of this isn't even Jak... the Raptors were just AWFUL this year at helping the helper. They give up a ton of penetration to perimeter players, forcing the center to rotate over to contest the shot, and then no one rotates to help on the boards. That's not necessarily on the center.

I agree 100% that there needs to be better team rebounding in those situations and I've defended Poeltl previously on that account when he's been called a bad defensive rebounder due to the rebound rates when he's on the floor vs JV. That said I still think it's an area Poeltl can improve on, even if it's a difficult thing to be able to do.

[Scraptor]

So do many fans actually agree that outside of the top 4-5 teams that have any shot at a championship, the other 15 (who aren't already abysmal) should blow it up and tank for the small chance that they luck into a top pick that actually develops into a superstar?

That's the actual PLAN?

I don't agree that 50-60 wins of entertaining and fun basketball but ultimately falling against LeBron is a failure. I've experience enough of the former to understand the difference.

I'd still fire Casey......kick him upstairs, whatever.

Nope. That is a straw man argument that is constantly brought up.

If you are not a contender (GSW, HOU, CLE, and next year BOS, PHI) it looks more like this:

1. If you already have a superstar (or someone with that ceiling) you don't need to tank, you can try to build around him: Pelicans, Bucks, Thunder, Timberwolves, Nuggets, Knicks.

2. If you don't have a superstar but you are an attractive US market due to size/weather/taxes, you can try to acquire a star through free agency: NY, LA, Miami, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Dallas.

3. If you have neither superstar nor market, then you should tank till you get one. This includes Orlando, Sacramento, Memphis, Charlotte... and Toronto.

Other teams can be debated on an individual basis. The Blazers are like us. Two stars but not true superstars and a pile of bad contracts who got swept by a lower seed. Not a great NBA market. They should probably blow it up.

What is your plan to take a team that has a bad playoff record (13th in the NBA over 5 years, 10th over 3 years, 11th over 2), a gigantic payroll, only late picks after this year (where we have none), no true superstar, and an unattractive market to the rank of contender?

Hoping that late picks can become elite stars is---statistically--wishful thinking.

[KHD]

LOTS of young centers struggle with the physical aspects of transition to the NBA. Jak is not at all unique in this aspect. As far as his offensive game, that's just not true. He doesn't have an obvious offensive game, but he has great hands around the basket and is an efficient finisher, and is good as a screener. He wasn't good offensively with the starters, because they were bad at utilizing those aspects of his game.

Jak will never be a shot creator in and of himself, but he is a guy who can be utilized to improve your offense if you actually run plays and have off-ball movement.

Offhand I can't think of a guy who became a good defensive rebounder after being terrible at it.