The Depth Trend

[LJ2]

I just wanted to start a new thread for no reason

I'm just reflecting on the the playoff game we closed out the Wiz, that 4th quarter. Beal was dead tired, no lift in his jump shot, bent over and grabbing his shorts. That team was so broken. They had nothing left after going 6 games with the Raptors, particularly because there was no let up when the bench was out there.

That has me thinking about the GSW problem. There is just no way to match these guys on star talent, but can they be beaten by a team that fields a really good starting unit and a great bench? Making it so that the starters have to be out there the whole time. We've witnessed Mike D'antoni's 7 second or less offence, LeBron and playing small ball, now are the Raptors on the verge of a "depth" trend?

[Puffer]

It would be good to use the "Line UP Projection" tool to compare the benches of the top 5-6 teams. Other teams starters should be forced to play longer minutes. as I suggested in another post, Taking advantage of this when other teams are playing on second night of back to backs with the Raptors could be a big boost. On the flip side, it should halp the Raptors when they are on road trips or on a back-to-back sequence of their own.

[G__Deane]

Our bench was no longer that dominant by the end of the season. I think they get less minutes this year to begin with excoet in blowouts. They sure won't be counted on to get the team back in games like last season. They pretty much saved Casey's job last year.

[white men can't jump]

Don't know if you can really credit our depth for the Washington series. Our bench actually wasn't great because FVV was sitting. Feel like they even got outplayed a good amount.

My memory may be playing tricks on me but Beal played well in that series, except when OG was hounding him. He was killing our other guys, though. He did have to play a lot of minutes, but even with a better bench for the Wiz I don't think that changes.

There has been a minor trend in teams reducing star/starter minutes for years, at least in the regular season. San Antonio really brought that to the forefront as Duncan and Manu aged.

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[DanH]

Don't know if you can really credit our depth for the Washington series. Our bench actually wasn't great because FVV was sitting. Feel like they even got outplayed a good amount.

My memory may be playing tricks on me but Beal played well in that series, except when OG was hounding him. He was killing our other guys, though. He did have to play a lot of minutes, but even with a better bench for the Wiz I don't think that changes.

There has been a minor trend in teams reducing star/starter minutes for years, at least in the regular season. San Antonio really brought that to the forefront as Duncan and Manu aged.

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I think it was Lowry who shut down Beal, OG taking the Wall assignment.

[white men can't jump]

I think it was Lowry who shut down Beal, OG taking the Wall assignment.

I feel like it was OG on Beal early in the series. And he struggled in those first couple of games quite a bit.

Then we had to put OG on Wall because he was doing too well. Wall was hitting his midrange shots like crazy in that series, though. I kept telling at Devlin to shut up because he kept saying nonsense like "Wall is so dangerous in the midrange" or some such...when he is normally like a 30% shooter on those shots.

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[Maury]

If I remember correctly Kyle absolutely flustered Beal that whole series. Got under him every possession, played super aggressive defence and hounded him all game.

[Maury]

And Kyle started on Beal too. He was pretty much Beal’s primary defender for the whole series.

[inthepaint]

Depth will help you get though the grind of the regular season, limiting fatigue-type injuries and preserving your stars for the playoffs (like we saw with Lowry last year). But it won't sway a 3rd/4th round playoff series on its own.

Teams that make that far, have enough depth of their own to make it pretty unlikely that another team will overwhelm them on "cardio" alone. It's the top end talent that will make or break when you're in the ECF/WFC and beyond.

Wizards last year had very little depth. I do remember them being pretty exhausted late in the series, and that sure was a huge boost for us; we were a notch above them physically for sure.

But they were the Eastern Conference 8th seed. That won't work against GSW, as much as I'd like to find the chink in their armour. That said, GSW plays such a fast paced and physically demanding game that our depth (if intact by then) might be the only way to keep a series with them somewhat interesting.

[planetmars]

If I remember correctly Kyle absolutely flustered Beal that whole series. Got under him every possession, played super aggressive defence and hounded him all game.

Yeah Kyle was covering Beal for at least the first two games.. OG was covering Wall. They may have a switched a few times.. but that was the primary strategy on defense for the two.

I remember the TV showing a frustrated Beal on the bench before a commercial break. He came out like gang busters in Game 3 and 4. Scored 28 and 31 points respectively.

[white men can't jump]

I was curious and desperate for ball, so I rewatched OG's minutes for the first 3 games of the Wiz series. He and Kyle switched in the 2nd and 3rd quarter of game 1, and for the last few minutes of the 1st half in game 3. Other than that OG was playing almost exclusively on Beal (unless forced to switch).

Of course, Lowry matched up with him a lot as well because OG spent so little time on the court.

[ReubenJRD]

And Kyle started on Beal too. He was pretty much Beal’s primary defender for the whole series.

A lot of Beal's points came off of scramble situations and in the open court. Lowry did a great job managing him in the halfcourt/off-the-dribble situations.

I hope the Raptors tighten up the transition defense. Their speed was good which managed to save them throughout games, but in the playoffs, there were a ton of run-outs on the Raptors.

[2KJ]

Not just depth. But good, depth consisting of many long, athletic players who can guard multiple positions (OG and Delon in particular). Something that the team lacked, esp in 2015 where we had Amir and Pat guarding Pierce (because Casey hates James Johnson), Kyle getting owned by Beal, JV getting bullied by Gortat and Nene, Demar destroyed by Otto Porter, and our bench backcourt of Lou Williams and Greivis Vasquez, with TRoss as the best defender.

Kyle got his revenge on Beal this year. OG was like the 2015 Otto Porter - tall, long defender who can hit open 3s and hustles for second chance shots. He and Kyle kept switching on the Beal/Wall backcourt. Then we have Delon off the bench who is also amazing defensively.

[DanH]

You forgot Tyler Hansbrough somehow starting at PF and also defending Paul Pierce for long stretches.

[LJ2]

If I remember correctly Kyle absolutely flustered Beal that whole series. Got under him every possession, played super aggressive defence and hounded him all game.

Yeah, you definitely need starters to do their jobs and do them well. But having no or little "let up" when starters are off is my point. The starters can defend at a high level which will tire opposing teams starters...then our second unit comes in and starts increasing the lead against opposing benches. You're forcing them to get their starters back in sooner than they would like. That can be tiring at the end of an 82 game season + playoff run.