Everything Playoffs

[JimiCliff]

Irving was already there for 75% of it...with a rusty struggling Hayward taking shots from him and tatum..we upgraded our top scorer and our 3 pt shooting (the 2nd thing fairly dramatically, and we were a team that took a Ton of 3s and figure to again but didnt make a ton)

We had an elite offense and they had an average offense. Not sure Hayward and 20 more games of Irving are enough to swing the pendulum the other way.

What I'm saying is THEIR offense may improve, but ours has been elite for 2 years and dont see why that should change

We'll revisit this in the spring.

[MixxAOR]

Boston always figure it out somehow. And their luck is endless. No more predictions for me.

[ReubenJRD]

Boston always figure it out somehow. And their luck is endless. No more predictions for me.

I'll be shocked by April and the Celtics aren't the number one seed. They get their two star players back and have stability; most of their main core is back with the same coaching staff.

They'll be more than fine.

[Mitch P]

Just to go on the record before the first game I'm picking Celtics to win the first seed but Raptors to beat them in the playoffs. I think the Pacers might be number three....not Philly. This Raptor team (if we have average or better luck with injuries) should be the best ever and should be much better constructed for the playoffs. The defensive potential is limitless and while I agree that we don't have many pure scorers I think we'll almost always have more possessions and will shoot at a higher percentage than last year. Why I think the Celtics might get more points in the regular season is that Nurse will be tinkering and Stevens won't have to as much. We should all (me included of course) not get too upset if there is the odd frustrating loss before Nurse figures out that JV needs to start and play 28 minutes.

[S.R.]

Just to go on the record before the first game I'm picking Celtics to win the first seed but Raptors to beat them in the playoffs. I think the Pacers might be number three....not Philly. This Raptor team (if we have average or better luck with injuries) should be the best ever and should be much better constructed for the playoffs. The defensive potential is limitless and while I agree that we don't have many pure scorers I think we'll almost always have more possessions and will shoot at a higher percentage than last year. Why I think the Celtics might get more points in the regular season is that Nurse will be tinkering and Stevens won't have to as much. We should all (me included of course) not get too upset if there is the odd frustrating loss before Nurse figures out that JV needs to start and play 28 minutes.

I think we should also not underestimate how long it might take to get a new best player really in sync with the rest of the squad. It doesn't happen in a couple weeks.

Hopefully they're just peaking towards the end of the season. They'll also be very good in the meantime, but won't be fully firing on all cylinders here for a little while.

Agreed that for the first time ever we might see the best version of a Raptors team in the playoffs.

[Demographic Shift]

I think we should also not underestimate how long it might take to get a new best player really in sync with the rest of the squad. It doesn't happen in a couple weeks.

Hopefully they're just peaking towards the end of the season. They'll also be very good in the meantime, but won't be fully firing on all cylinders here for a little while.

Agreed that for the first time ever we might see the best version of a Raptors team in the playoffs.

Tavares is fitting in with the new guys pretty well. Didn’t take to long.

Leonard and Green will be fine. They have been playing this game since they turned 5 or 6. There isn’t all that much that they haven’t seen.

Lowry will start a bit slow then throw it into gear a few games in just like last year and the year before that.

FVV and Siakam and Wright and OG have been at it all summer.

Miles and Powell look like they will be better than last year. JV looks lighter and fitter than he has looked in a couple years.

Serge is going to be this year’s whipping boy.

By and large they are good to go on opening night. It’s Finals..conference and league ..or bust this year. There will be speed bumps along the way to be sure and there will be times they roll over teams and leave them as roadkill.

But it’s the playoffs when the measuring stick comes out for this version of the Raptors.

And you have to like their chances.

[Puffer]

I think the Raptors can't avoid winning more games this year than last. Even with Nurse tinkering. He can do his experimenting strategically; against teams that the Raptors should reasonably beat, and use his most reliable lineups against conference competitors for first seed.

The Raptors want to be able to rest players when and as able towards the end of the season and give their developing players reps in something other than garbage time. They should be able to do both and still get the first seed.

Call me wildly optimistic.

[G__Deane]

ESPN with their "Expert" predictions.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/2...nce-nba-champs

15 picking Boston, Raptors next with 5 and Philly 2. However what exactly are these "experts" expert at? Broad range, most are storytellers who write about the human aspect of the game, but only superficial nuts and bolts knowledge.

Although there's a few who I have no clue who/what they are, there's only 3 of those "experts" whose opinions I actually respect : Marks, Pelton and Schmitz. And unsurprisingly those are 3 of the 5 who are picking the Raptors to win the East.

Picking the Celtics is the easy and safe pick for the US media/writers. If the Raps win the East, it will be because the Celtics screwed up in X ways or injuries, not that the Raps are better. That's the easy safe low hanging narrative. And don't forget the other advantage that the Celtics will carry into the post season.....the referess and the NBA desire to see the Celts in the finals

[Mitch P]

Picking the Celtics is the easy and safe pick for the US media/writers. If the Raps win the East, it will be because the Celtics screwed up in X ways or injuries, not that the Raps are better. That's the easy safe low hanging narrative. And don't forget the other advantage that the Celtics will carry into the post season.....the referess and the NBA desire to see the Celts in the finals

I think we all grew tired of beating this drum throughout last season but no doubt it is going to happen again; ignored or grossly underestimated by the US media. Unfortunately the collapse against the Cavs last spring gave them justification. Already I've heard a number of offhand comments by broadcasters talking up the Celtics and Sixers without even a mention of Toronto. As many here have stated; this is the same team that won 59 games; but with another year of experience for a bunch of kids plus a two way superstar replacing a star. Logic alone suggests that they should at least COMPETE with Boston....no? I'm not going to let it bother me this year; just enjoy the wins as they roll in.

[Puffer]

...just enjoy the wins even more as they roll in.

Fixed it for you.

[slaw]

I think we all grew tired of beating this drum throughout last season but no doubt it is going to happen again; ignored or grossly underestimated by the US media. Unfortunately the collapse against the Cavs last spring gave them justification. Already I've heard a number of offhand comments by broadcasters talking up the Celtics and Sixers without even a mention of Toronto. As many here have stated; this is the same team that won 59 games; but with another year of experience for a bunch of kids plus a two way superstar replacing a star. Logic alone suggests that they should at least COMPETE with Boston....no? I'm not going to let it bother me this year; just enjoy the wins as they roll in.

I still don't understand why anyone cares what the US sports media thinks.

[LJ2]

I still don't understand why anyone cares what the US sports media thinks.

Really? I mean the US controls sports media ...for the NBA anyways. Pretty obvious why it should bother us that we go ignored. The alternate would be to pay attentions to a bunch of guys who primarily watched hockey growing up.

[slaw]

Really? I mean the US controls sports media ...for the NBA anyways. Pretty obvious why it should bother us that we go ignored. The alternate would be to pay attentions to a bunch of guys who primarily watched hockey growing up.

Why pay attention to any of them? Very, very few are experts. Most are just loud mouth pundits talking amongst themselves. You can get all the summary content and news you need through a hundred different places and there is plenty of intelligent basketball commentary out there that touches on Raps-related stuff.

[KeonClark]

Why pay attention to any of them? Very, very few are experts. Most are just loud mouth pundits talking amongst themselves. You can get all the summary content and news you need through a hundred different places and there is plenty of intelligent basketball commentary out there that touches on Raps-related stuff.

I think one part of the point is that we should care because the players care. Not all of them but a lot of the them want to be in the TNT game of the night or Stephen a Smith talk show the next day

[The Great One]

Whatever happe ed to the Everything Non Raptors thread? Mods know that no one goes to the Let's NBA thread right?