PRESEASON GAME 1: Portland Trail Blazers @ Toronto Raptors in Vancity - Sat Sept 29th, 7pm ET

[grindhouse]

Umm...no. They'll be able to put him in lineups where he won't have to be the primary defender on the ballhandler. If they could have him switch onto a guy like Beal in last year's playoffs and find success that way, most nights they'll be able to do similar things, and on guys who are going to be worse players than Beal.

Aren’t you tired of hiding players defensively ? That’s why demar is not here

[white men can't jump]

Also Lowry defence is bad on the ball he may need to come off the bench as a volume shooter at this point in his career

Umm...no. They'll be able to put him in lineups where he won't have to be the primary defender on the ballhandler. If they could have him switch onto a guy like Beal in last year's playoffs and find success that way, most nights they'll be able to do similar things, and on guys who are going to be worse players than Beal.

[grindhouse]

Also Lowry defence is bad on the ball he may need to come off the bench as a volume shooter at this point in his career

[grindhouse]

It’s one game but they have a lot to fix for sure. One thing I didn’t like pascal took bad shots he needs to be more tactical. He drives when the defender is playing off him instead of shooting or faking the shot. He looks like he has been playing street ball all summer.

[S.R.]

I'd guess OG's unavailability was on fairly short notice and starting CJ in his place was just the least disruptive adjustment to the night's game plan.

[white men can't jump]

Well, that's to be expected when they took the best screen setter out of the starting lineup. It's good data to have: the extra spacers didn't seem to make up for the lack of quality screens, with the offence getting too stagnant early in the game.

I wonder if we'll see more Lowry screening for Kawhi in those small looks. Didn't see any of it last night IIRC.

Yeah, and I don't expect we'll see a similar starting lineup to last night's once the season starts.

I honestly don't know why anyone was excited about it. We had 5 shooters, but no good screener. It makes it hard to actually create space despite having shooters because it makes it hard to collapse the D.

And it's not like it was a "shut down" unit defensively...can't have that with Miles on the court, and also not our best rebounding lineup.

Feel like Nurse just randomly decided to start his most "veteran" group since OG was out. Maybe thought they might click fastest with Lowry and Leonard, who were clearly slated to play limited minutes, but wasn't a huge fan of that group.

Still think we basically end up with the same starting lineup as last year, with Kawhi in place of DeMar. At least if Ibaka is going to keep starting.

---

Random thoughts:
-Lowry/Leonard don't look like they'll take that long to click. One thing, though, is that Leonard and JV will have to adjust to each other on the p'n'r. JV is clearly used to DeMar's game, with more dribbling and probing...Kawhi wastes less movement. Not worried about it, but you could see the timing issues during certain plays.
-JV looks like he's in the best shape of his career and like he's ready to build off last season.
-Lineups with JV and Siakam were fun. You can have Siakam running ahead on plays and JV trailing to clean up the mess. Can cause real problems for the opponent in transition.
-Siakam's shot still looks pretty bad. Definitely better form than a year ago today, but not sure if we can expect any consistency in that 3pter this year.
-Norm still looks like the odd man out. Not sure if he can really find a nightly role on this team. Miles and Green are known quantities who seem more stable/reliable. FVV and Wright bring a lot to the table as ballhandlers/playmakers.
-The D needs work in general, but I think that's normal for this stage of preseason. Doesn't look like they've worked too much on it, and there were times where you could see just normal preseason cobwebs, as there were times where they failed to ice or switch and so forth.

Looking forward to seeing how OG looks when he rejoins the team.

[Ebonhawke]

Well, that's to be expected when they took the best screen setter out of the starting lineup. It's good data to have: the extra spacers didn't seem to make up for the lack of quality screens, with the offence getting too stagnant early in the game.

I wonder if we'll see more Lowry screening for Kawhi in those small looks. Didn't see any of it last night IIRC.

I don't remember a lot of screens set for Kawhi above the foul line - think I remember a few screens set for CJ / Green out on the elbows.

[DanH]

We need to set better screens and picks this offense looks like it could be shut down very easily

Well, that's to be expected when they took the best screen setter out of the starting lineup. It's good data to have: the extra spacers didn't seem to make up for the lack of quality screens, with the offence getting too stagnant early in the game.

I wonder if we'll see more Lowry screening for Kawhi in those small looks. Didn't see any of it last night IIRC.

[grindhouse]

If your keeping score..may as well win eh ?
But your right it’s a preaseson game. Nobody gets cut or cements their PT.

Am pretty sure Nurse and co are breaking down tape and seeing what translated from practice to games and what and who needs more work.

Probably I want to see delon and Kawhi together more

[Demographic Shift]

Some of you need to go work for ESPN or FS1. The amount of hot takes you can extract from 1 meaningless game is uncanny.

If your keeping score..may as well win eh ?
But your right it’s a preaseson game. Nobody gets cut or cements their PT.

Am pretty sure Nurse and co are breaking down tape and seeing what translated from practice to games and what and who needs more work.

[Yuri Gagarin]

So ya no more trade proposals involving Wright please. The guys a keeper.

[Yuri Gagarin]

FVV is such a tactician. There was some nice passing all around. Wright is one of my favourites his box score didnt reflect his impact he was everywhere has a really well rounded game.

This may sound weird but Kawhi reminds me of Nash. He seems to move at 88% speed its
like a slight hesitation that puts defenders on their heals not knowing if hes gonna blast or pull up. Reminds me of Nashs comment about how offensively one of the most important skills is not speed or mobility but the ability to stop suddenly.

[Truth Teller]

Some of you need to go work for ESPN or FS1. The amount of hot takes you can extract from 1 meaningless game is uncanny.

[grindhouse]

I feel we are going to put talent our way to the playoffs then fold

[grindhouse]

We need to set better screens and picks this offense looks like it could be shut down very easily