Everything Valanciunas

[Axel]

I just deleted a bunch of posts, infractions to follow.

Remember, your opinion on other posters is not a topic. Keep it on point.

[S.R.]

Quick, somebody tell Memphis a crunch time lineup with Gasol + Z-Bo can't work anymore, won't beat the best teams in the league when they go small and rain threes on you. Wait a minute, did they just force the Warriors to play Zaza Pachulia much more than they normally like to and then go and leave Z-Bo on the floor vs Durant in crunch time? Yes, yes they did. It's almost like playing to your strengths can work.

[hotfuzz]

Quick, somebody tell Memphis a crunch time lineup with Gasol + Z-Bo can't work anymore, won't beat the best teams in the league when they go small and rain threes on you. Wait a minute, did they just force the Warriors to play Zaza Pachulia much more than they normally like to and then go and leave Z-Bo on the floor vs Durant in crunch time? Yes, yes they did. It's almost like playing to your strengths can work.

but....but I thought the slow big men were dead?!

Who knew going big against a team who specializes in going small and playing to your strengths would work. Huh.

[special1]

All we need is JV to morph into Marc Gasol

[golden]

but....but I thought the slow big men were dead?!

Who knew going big against a team who specializes in going small and playing to your strengths would work. Huh.

Not the Spurs either, with Pau Gasol and LMA anchoring the NBA's #1 defense by DRTG. That's truly impressive. I guess the secret is that you need a Gasol.

[big boi]

And JV hasn't? He carried us to the only success that matters at all. He's actually been quite consistent his whole career but his opportunities limited. His "inconsistency" has more to do with being jerked around by Casey his whole career regardless of his play. We've seen him benched in the 2nd half of games where he has a double double at halftime.

Exactly what was i trolling?

Has DD not been inconsistent and inefficient most of his career? Last year was his first actually solid season in his role. He has been allowed to work through his inconsistencies despite only really being a volume scorer who couldn't do anything at an above average level other than get to the line for most of his career. It took him having arguably the worst playoff performance of any primary scorer in the history of the game before Casey benched him for even a quarter.

Lowry had trouble finding a home and consistency. He struggled to find his way in MEM, who gave up on him. He had one great year in Houston, and then when we got him, Casey made him play out of his comfort zone and favoured Jose, a worse talent. Lowry has been great and consistent apart from that, but it begs the question why was he ever relegated to a role/minutes that would hurt his effectiveness and consistency?

When you call me a troll and don't address my rational statements it just exposes you more and more as someone who knows literally nothing about basketball and even sports in general.

Keep on truckin there McRealistic.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

No. Demar has been consistently inefficient for most of this career. While playing turnstile defence for all of it.

Man, if JV had been given carte Blanche on offence to have no conscience and just work on his offensive repertoire and force up shots no matter how many weren't going in, we'd have some kind of offensive weapon by now. He has some superb post moves. Has a decent shot, is decent at the line, and good on the offensive boards. And he has been efficient offensively.

But that's not what I'm suggesting. I'm suggesting establishing JV as a viable 3rd offensive option on the team. Like many others are suggesting. During the regular season where we can work out the kinks. Let Demar work on his post passing. JV work in his post positioning. Let the team work on movement to isolate JV against one defender instead of 2. Instead of waiting for KL and particularly DD to go up against vastly superior opposition and defence (like Paul george) in the playoffs where we are left needing an alternative offensive weapon. Why not work on that now?

[Lupe]

Quick, somebody tell Memphis a crunch time lineup with Gasol + Z-Bo can't work anymore, won't beat the best teams in the league when they go small and rain threes on you. Wait a minute, did they just force the Warriors to play Zaza Pachulia much more than they normally like to and then go and leave Z-Bo on the floor vs Durant in crunch time? Yes, yes they did. It's almost like playing to your strengths can work.

Marc Gasol isn't a liability on the defensive end, in fact he's an elite defender who can make up for being out-sped by small ball lineups. This in turn forces the other team to put a big out there to guard him (since they're gaining very little from mismatching him with a smaller player), in which case for Golden State means 2 bigs are on the floor (Green and Zaza) so ZBo can be out there defensively as well. Not to mention Gasol is way more versatile on the offensive end beyond just pick and roll and post-ups. Got an outside game, passes like a point guard, etc.

Not comparable.

[A.I]

Marc Gasol isn't a liability on the defensive end, in fact he's an elite defender who can make up for being out-sped by small ball lineups. This in turn forces the other team to put a big out there to guard him (since they're gaining very little from mismatching him with a smaller player), in which case for Golden State means 2 bigs are on the floor (Green and Zaza) so ZBo can be out there defensively as well. Not to mention Gasol is way more versatile on the offensive end beyond just pick and roll and post-ups. Got an outside game, passes like a point guard, etc.

Not comparable.

You're 100% right.

But matching their small ball lineup isn't the way to go either. The first game against Warriors this year, Raptors went small, they got annihilated and Warriors went up big. They got the rebounds, they went on the fastbreak, they caused turnovers. Staying big may also hurt you defensively, but at least you'll be able to grab rebounds and even have better chances to score.

[Fully]

This seems really obvious but apparently it needs to be said? Not all big guys and not all situations are created equal. If you think the only reason that Memphis was able to stay big and hang with Golden State was because they simply committed to doing it, and in turn the only reason the Raptors can't do the same thing is because they flatly refuse to do so... then I feel like you're not really paying attention.

[golden]

This seems really obvious but apparently it needs to be said? Not all big guys and not all situations are created equal. If you think the only reason that Memphis was able to stay big and hang with Golden State was because they simply committed to doing it, and in turn the only reason the Raptors can't do the same thing is because they flatly refuse to do so... then I feel like you're not really paying attention.

Regardless, the overall point is very relevant and important to discuss and understand.

Memphis (#3 - DRTG) and the Spurs (#1 - DRTG) are able to get away with playing 2 aging big men with average to below average athleticism and mobility, when the generally accepted modern theory is that playing even one of those type of guys in today's NBA will sink your defense.

How is that possible? What system are they playing on defense, and could that be adapted to what the Raps do with JV? Is the problem that the Raptor guards aren't giving enough effort on perimeter defense because they need to save their energy for offense?

[KHD]

Regardless, the overall point is very relevant and important to discuss and understand.

Memphis (#3 - DRTG) and the Spurs (#1 - DRTG) are able to get away with playing 2 aging big men with average to below average athleticism and mobility, when the generally accepted modern theory is that playing even one of those type of guys in today's NBA will sink your defense.

How is that possible? What system are they playing on defense, and could that be adapted to what the Raps do with JV? Is the problem that the Raptor guards aren't giving enough effort on perimeter defense because they need to save their energy for offense?

ding ding ding

[hotfuzz]

Casey hates JV. Plays just 4 mins in the 4th and OT, when we couldn't get a board to save our lives.

[hotfuzz]

There was a play in OT. Bebe received the ball in the paint from Demar after demar was trapped. JV was WIDE OPEN under the rim, but Bebe passed it to Lowry, who bricked it.

I mean, even fucking Bebe is looking off JV now.

[Axel]

This seems really obvious but apparently it needs to be said? Not all big guys and not all situations are created equal. If you think the only reason that Memphis was able to stay big and hang with Golden State was because they simply committed to doing it, and in turn the only reason the Raptors can't do the same thing is because they flatly refuse to do so... then I feel like you're not really paying attention.

You could really say the same thing about being such a guard oriented team and playing small.

Seems like we should be finding a better compromise between the extremes.

[Scraptor]

There was a play in OT. Bebe received the ball in the paint from Demar after demar was trapped. JV was WIDE OPEN under the rim, but Bebe passed it to Lowry, who bricked it.

I mean, even fucking Bebe is looking off JV now.

This is the play in question.

http://stats.nba.com/events/#!/?flag...0Shot&sct=plot

There are a couple things to note here:
1. It was a tie game, no need to go for a three.
2. Even a gentle lob would have led to an easy 2 for JV, or at worst two free throws.

The team has become so conditioned to kicking it out, and ignoring a wide open JV, that we are giving away really easy opportunities for buckets.

When people like me complain about JV being open, it's because of shit like this. The guy is open time and time again, and we don't pass him the ball. If he was some kind of inept finisher, or he couldn't shoot free throws, it would make sense. But the guy can finish! He is shooting 85.4% from the line! That's better than Kyle!

So what happened next?

Shitty transition defence off the rebound. Watch from about 8:09 here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s0hVKwtjTI

Carroll loses McBuckets, then fouls him on the three point shot. McBuckets sinks all three free throws. 114-111.
DeRozan decides to take a pull-up 19 footer. Misses.
Then Butler/McBuckets run the 1-3 pick and roll on Lowry/Carroll and get an easy dunk. 116-111.

Just like that we're in a hole in a tight game. And JV gets pulled for Ross, while Bebe stays in the game.