Raptors starting line up

[Shaolin Fantastic]

I have a feeling Lowry-DG-Kawhi-OG-Siakam is going to be our best lineup this coming season.

[DanH]

I have a feeling Lowry-DG-Kawhi-OG-Siakam is going to be our best lineup this coming season.

I could see it if used situationally. If used as a heavy minute lineup, I expect it will struggle on offence and in the boards and only post decent overall numbers.

[Rudy Bargnani]

I have a feeling Lowry-DG-Kawhi-OG-Siakam is going to be our best lineup this coming season.

I want to see this line up too and this is my response to folks saying we need to trade assets for a back up center.

JV and Ibaka are our center’s and maybe Siakam gets 5 mins a game as a small ball C.

I mean Lebron and PJ Tucker are center’s in limited minutes now days.

[golden]

I could see it if used situationally. If used as a heavy minute lineup, I expect it will struggle on offence and in the boards and only post decent overall numbers.

It's the small ball matchup lineup, assuming JV and Serge can't punish the other team for going small.

[ReubenJRD]

Funny thing is: Lowry-Green-Kawhi-OG- Siakam isn’t even our best defensive lineup vs small ball. It’s:

Wright-Green-Kawhi-OG-Siakam

Plug in Wright, who is a better overall defender than Kyle, and the switching possibilities become ridiculous.

It is the best defensive lineup, however, I won't call it the Raptors' version of the death lineup, simply because Lowry is a far better offensive option and there's really no argument to be made.

[ReubenJRD]

I could see it if used situationally. If used as a heavy minute lineup, I expect it will struggle on offence and in the boards and only post decent overall numbers.

It'll struggle even more if Wright is the point guard.

[golden]

It is the best defensive lineup, however, I won't call it the Raptors' version of the death lineup, simply because Lowry is a far better offensive option and there's really no argument to be made.

It could be more like the death-lineup stopper. Or at least it might be an antidote to slow down those Warriors runs where they just go nuts and drop 16 pts in 2 minutes to put the game out of reach.

[ReubenJRD]

It could be more like the death-lineup stopper. Or at least it might be an antidote to slow down those Warriors runs where they just go nuts and drop 16 pts in 2 minutes to put the game out of reach.

Oh absolutely. And if Wright manages to develop a consistent perimeter game, then my comments are void. But I don’t expect it to be at Lowry’s level.

[inthepaint]

Funny thing is: Lowry-Green-Kawhi-OG- Siakam isn’t even our best defensive lineup vs small ball. It’s:

Wright-Green-Kawhi-OG-Siakam

Plug in Wright, who is a better overall defender than Kyle, and the switching possibilities become ridiculous.

Intriguing, but who rebounds and sets screens here? I can see it being used situationally depending on the opposing team's weaknesses but I wouldn't make it the go-to closing lineup.

Edit: could work against the warriors if they're sitting cousins though.

[CalgaryRapsFan]

What I like most about the roster as it stands, is the potential flexibility in both the starting lineup and bench lineup.

For the starting lineup, Lowry and Leonard might be the only guaranteed starters each night. Depending on matchups, any combination of JV, Ibaka, Anunoby and Green might fill the other 3 spots.

For the second unit, the starting lineup for each game would obviously change the makeup of the bench mob. In addition to Van Vleet, Wright, Miles, Siakam and the odd man out from the starters, they'd also have Powell and potentially another big (I've read rumors about Greg Monroe, or they could bring Bebe back) to work with.

Both the starting and backup lineups could go big, small or traditional, and could have a ton of offensive firepower or be full of defensive stoppers. If all the players buy-in to the team-first approach that Nurse seems to be selling on his travels to visit with each player, the upcoming season could be a lot of fun!

[LJ2]

What I like most about the roster as it stands, is the potential flexibility in both the starting lineup and bench lineup.

For the starting lineup, Lowry and Leonard might be the only guaranteed starters each night. Depending on matchups, any combination of JV, Ibaka, Anunoby and Green might fill the other 3 spots.

For the second unit, the starting lineup for each game would obviously change the makeup of the bench mob. In addition to Van Vleet, Wright, Miles, Siakam and the odd man out from the starters, they'd also have Powell and potentially another big (I've read rumors about Greg Monroe, or they could bring Bebe back) to work with.

Both the starting and backup lineups could go big, small or traditional, and could have a ton of offensive firepower or be full of defensive stoppers. If all the players buy-in to the team-first approach that Nurse seems to be selling on his travels to visit with each player, the upcoming season could be a lot of fun!

Oh God, I hope not. Can you imagine how disgruntled the players would be if they didn't know what their roles would be from game to game? I like the flexibility of this roster as well, but I don't think Nurse is going to be changing the starting line-up that often. He will probably try a few variations in the preseason to see what works and what doesn't and then settle in for the most part. In game adjustments are probably where he will try new things.

[Nilanka]

Oh God, I hope not. Can you imagine how disgruntled the players would be if they didn't know what their roles would be from game to game? I like the flexibility of this roster as well, but I don't think Nurse is going to be changing the starting line-up that often. He will probably try a few variations in the preseason to see what works and what doesn't and then settle in for the most part. In game adjustments are probably where he will try new things.

It sounds like Nurse will be tinkering with the lineup for the first ~20-30 games of the season. With the lofty regular season win totals from years' past being meaningless, Raps seem to have their focus on finding their best lineups in preparation for April...and taking however long it takes to do so.

[slaw]

Oh God, I hope not. Can you imagine how disgruntled the players would be if they didn't know what their roles would be from game to game? I like the flexibility of this roster as well, but I don't think Nurse is going to be changing the starting line-up that often. He will probably try a few variations in the preseason to see what works and what doesn't and then settle in for the most part. In game adjustments are probably where he will try new things.

My prediction is that people will end up being disappointed how boring and staid it all ends up being....

[grindhouse]

It sounds like Nurse will be tinkering with the lineup for the first ~20-30 games of the season. With the lofty regular season win totals from years' past being meaningless, Raps seem to have their focus on finding their best lineups in preparation for April...and taking however long it takes to do so.

I hope he goes all defence on d pound the post with JV then sub shoooters to they double. Then back to D

[LJ2]

It sounds like Nurse will be tinkering with the lineup for the first ~20-30 games of the season. With the lofty regular season win totals from years' past being meaningless, Raps seem to have their focus on finding their best lineups in preparation for April...and taking however long it takes to do so.

20-30 games is a huge chunk of the season to be tinkering with the starting lineup. Raptors are probably good enough to win most of them despite the constant changes but keep in mind there is a lot at stake this season for the franchise. Not the least of which will be securing home court through the playoffs.