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Game #36: Raptors (25-10) @ Heat (16-16); Wednesday, Dec. 26th at 7:30 pm on SN1

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  • Superjudge wrote: View Post
    You know, I likely would have pissed my pants laughing if the Raptors would have sent a trainer to the gift store at the miami arena at half to buy Sunglasses, and have them all walk out to the court to start the fourth wearing them....hilarity
    Especially kwai. Dont want to damage his poor widdle eyes.

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    • Superjudge wrote: View Post
      You know, I likely would have pissed my pants laughing if the Raptors would have sent a trainer to the gift store at the miami arena at half to buy Sunglasses, and have them all walk out to the court to start the fourth wearing them....hilarity
      I think the Heat's strategy was to blind the Raptors with their god-awful colours, and it almost worked until the 4th quarter!

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      • Mitch P wrote: View Post
        Call me crazy but Norm, playing like this could be a point guard. Hitting the odd three, penetrating under control and dishing and making the pull up when he has to. His handle isn't that tight but could get better. He's certainly always a threat to go to the rim unlike Fred who is just a block waiting to happen.
        Yeah, I've been thinking about this as well. If anything, Powell basically played like one against the Heat during his limited minutes in the fourth quarter, directing traffic and using his drives into the lane to find the open man. He's always been capable of this, but last season put an awful taste in everyone's mouth that's just starting to disappear now.

        I think one thing that plays into Powell trying to play point guard, is that he's very capable of running the pick and roll as the ball handler. People might not remember this, but Powell was 85th percentile as the PnR ball handler in 2016-17, scoring 0.97 PPP. This was on par with the likes of DeRozan (All-Star that season), Hayward (All-Star that season), Kemba Walker (All-Star that season), Kyrie Irving (All-Star that season), and a few more All-Stars I can't remember at the moment. (Unfortunately, stats.nba.com took down the playtype stats that I used to find this... If anyone can tell me where I can still find those stats, that would be very appreciated. Thanks!) Two of those four guys were point guards (Walker/Irving), one of them could play point forward (Hayward), and one of them is basically playing as de facto point guard for his new team (DeRozan).

        In addition, Powell is a quick and explosive driver and a very good finisher, although not very crafty, but he's picking his spots much better so he doesn't get stripped of the ball on his drives so easily. If Powell can figure out how to drive to the rim much more often, he can leverage this into creating opportunities for his teammates by pulling away defenders to try and stop him from scoring at the rim.

        Some questions I have about Powell playing point guard full-time are:
        • How good is his court vision? There's being able to see the obvious play, and then there's being able to see plays two steps before they even develop (which is what Lowry is capable of - part of the reason why he's so damn good).
        • How good is his shooting? He's going to need to be a threat to hit mid-range pull-up shots to get the defense to guess while defending his drives. He will have to be able to hit at least the assisted (spot up, catch and shoot) corner three as well.
        • Does he develop more craftiness or skill to his game, or does he continue to rely on his athleticism? Athleticism is the first thing to fade when he turns 30 or so, which is just a few years from now. Developing more skills could help extend his impact in the absence of his athleticism and keep him useful for longer.

        Regardless, I think Powell playing point guard and playing in the role of a slasher, is much more feasible than him playing small forward and trying to be an undersized 3-and-D wing, because the former plays to his strengths much more than the latter. Telling Powell to play point guard should also get him into the mindset of passing the ball more often.

        Luckily, trading away DeRozan for Leonard has created a positive effect on the rest of the Raptors roster, where everyone is no longer trying to play roles to fill the numerous holes in DeRozan's game, and instead they're just playing their games and playing to their strengths because Leonard doesn't have any glaring holes in his game that need to be covered up by his teammates. And I can tell that Powell has been a huge beneficiary of that (and so has Siakam, and Lowry, and Ibaka).

        Mitch P wrote: View Post
        Whoever on the coaching staff has been working with him has clearly had a bigger impact that whoever it was last year.
        I'm guessing Phil Handy, the Raptors' new development coach, has been working with Norman Powell.

        Phil Handy has worked with Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Kyrie Irving before, as well as other Lakers and Cavaliers players, and now he's working with Kawhi Leonard, Pascal Siakam, et al.

        Here's an article that explains more: https://ca.nba.com/news/who-is-toron...u1gv9u2t7uohkh

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