Raps @ Knicks

[MixxAOR]

Raptors are the 4th best team out East to me after the deadline.

— Nate Jones (@JonesOnTheNBA) February 9, 2019

Lowry is done there. You can tell he is over it. I don’t think Marc Gasol moves the needle at playoff time given how teams will play. May help against Philly, but not against Boston or Milwaukee with their versatility.

— Nate Jones (@JonesOnTheNBA) February 9, 2019

Also, this all is just relative to the rest of the top of the East. Raptors would be the sure fire 2nd best team out West if they played out there.

— Nate Jones (@JonesOnTheNBA) February 9, 2019

Raps fans: if you think I’ve got some ulterior motive or am a hater, just listen to @BenGolliver and @andrewsharp’s latest pod after the deadline. It’s all sound reasoning. If they prove us wrong, great! Just my opinion

— Nate Jones (@JonesOnTheNBA) February 9, 2019

[Hotshot]

I'm sad :|

Me too but this was a necessary move.

JV took everything in strive & owned up to his mistakes. You can't ask for a better person to be a part of your organization.

[Zak24gege]

Kawhi said he was "pretty sad" JV was going.

— Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) February 9, 2019

Does this mean Kawhi gets 3 games off for the loss of JV?

[Raptor Jesus]

I mentioned in another thread how Giannis and Middleton have missed or sat out only three games each so far this season. No wonder their team is playing so well. If our main guys are so fragile they can't play even non-back to back games, frankly this team has a much bigger problem than who is the starting C.

We have a .714 win % 2 games back. We're coasting while keeping up.

[Zak24gege]

I mentioned in another thread how Giannis and Middleton have missed or sat out only three games each so far this season. No wonder their team is playing so well. If our main guys are so fragile they can't play even non-back to back games, frankly this team has a much bigger problem than who is the starting C.

[consmap]

Kawhi said he was "pretty sad" JV was going.

— Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) February 9, 2019

I'm sad :|

[inthepaint]

Kawhi said he was "pretty sad" JV was going.

— Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) February 9, 2019

^^He's staying.

[GOLDBLUM]

Kawhi said he was "pretty sad" JV was going.

— Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) February 9, 2019

[JimiCliff]

I just want to be clear what the parameters are for the context you are seeking in comparing these numbers. The above differences are your expectation?

I don't have an expectation. I think those numbers are going to be crazy noisy when you factor in the injuries, Kawhi joining the team, Kawhi sitting consistently, Nurse being a rookie head coach, JV having a much lighter workload than Ibaka, the aforementioned possible difference in the types/strength of opponent each was used against, and the small sample size we're drawing from.

[Rudy Bargnani]

Could be! On the season the Serge starters are 8 points worse offensively and 8 points worse defensively than the JV lineup. Is your position that the difference in strength between their competition is 16 points per 100 possessions? More than that, I presume, if the position is that the Serge lineup has been so effective as to make a team hesitate to start Marc freaking Gasol after making a trade for him to take them over the top. 16 points per 100 possessions is a dramatic swing in quality of competition.

If you attribute all the offensive struggles to Lowry (which would be wrong but let's go with it), where does the defensive difference come from? I guess we are to accept that Serge faced offences that were on average about 10 points per 100 possessions better than the ones JV faced? At least. Right?

I just want to be clear what the parameters are for the context you are seeking in comparing these numbers. The above differences are your expectation? Because I don't see much point in chasing down an answer to that if there will simply be another reason thrown out there after inevitably those thresholds above are not met.

I think he said Gasol should start.

I’m not going to spend much time looking it up but to your question about strength of schedule JV’s highest minutes per game this season were against Detroit, Atlanta, Brooklyn and Phoenix. He played very little against the best offences in the NBA—Golden State, Milwaukee, NOP, and Philly. (With the exception of the wonderful game he dominated Philly). He also played little against Boston or Denver.

So that probably has something to do with the defensive difference. But again I’d say it really doesn’t matter because:
—He said Gasol should start.
—JV doesn’t play for the raptors anymore.

[rocwell]

Don’t count on Gasol starting if it depends on Memphis paperwork. This is the team that tried to trade “a guy named Brooks”

Jonas just arrived in Memphis, deal will go through after physical

[Jclaw]

Gasol is expected to play tonight vs. Knicks but there is still some paperwork needed to be completed on Memphis end. https://t.co/rlAQyHwJlv

— Michael Grange (@michaelgrange) February 9, 2019

Don’t count on Gasol starting if it depends on Memphis paperwork. This is the team that tried to trade “a guy named Brooks”

[DanH]

I just don't concede that those 'Starters with Ibaka vs. JV' numbers give decent insight into Ibaka's play and impact. The sample size is too small, to say nothing of the fact that we aren't controlling for the strength of the opponent in each scenario (dollars to donuts says the 'Starter with JV' set was playing weaker competition, given where we are in the modern NBA).

Could be! On the season the Serge starters are 8 points worse offensively and 8 points worse defensively than the JV lineup. Is your position that the difference in strength between their competition is 16 points per 100 possessions? More than that, I presume, if the position is that the Serge lineup has been so effective as to make a team hesitate to start Marc freaking Gasol after making a trade for him to take them over the top. 16 points per 100 possessions is a dramatic swing in quality of competition.

If you attribute all the offensive struggles to Lowry (which would be wrong but let's go with it), where does the defensive difference come from? I guess we are to accept that Serge faced offences that were on average about 10 points per 100 possessions better than the ones JV faced? At least. Right?

I just want to be clear what the parameters are for the context you are seeking in comparing these numbers. The above differences are your expectation? Because I don't see much point in chasing down an answer to that if there will simply be another reason thrown out there after inevitably those thresholds above are not met.

[rocwell]

Kawhi Leonard is expected to play tonight; said his knee is fine: https://t.co/YRwUZzy8du

— Michael Grange (@michaelgrange) February 9, 2019

[JimiCliff]

It was very good early in the season. When it was very good, the JV version was dramatically better. Then it was OK (for a stretch before Lowry got hurt), and the JV version was good (ie far better than the Serge version). Then Lowry and JV got hurt, eventually Lowry came back, and it's been bad since. All of those samples are pretty sizeable ones.

So. We can pin all the struggles on Lowry. We can. But to do so ignores that it's been a constant downward trend since Lowry's insane shooting dropped off like 10 games into the season, and that at every stage where a JV alternative was available, that alternative performed better than the Serge unit. Why, given that, are we all excited about how the Serge unit has performed, to the extent that we may not be willing to start Marc Gasol for fear of losing the incredible value of starting Serge Ibaka?

I just don't concede that those 'Starters with Ibaka vs. JV' numbers give decent insight into Ibaka's play and impact. The sample size is too small, to say nothing of the fact that we aren't controlling for the strength of the opponent in each scenario (dollars to donuts says the 'Starter with JV' set was playing weaker competition, given where we are in the modern NBA).