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

[white men can't jump]

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

No, because Lowry actually defends well in the team concept, just tends to get overaggressive on better ballhandlers, leading to blow bys. It's not like DeMar, who was completely disengaged most of the time and would just stand around for most of a possession.

[tDotted]

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

Love Delon but I don't think he played well at all

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[The Great One]

.@DeMar_DeRozan gets his first bucket in a @spurs uniform! #NBAPreseason pic.twitter.com/DfqOFD8Rg1

— NBA TV (@NBATV) September 30, 2018

[Gonzz]

.@DeMar_DeRozan gets his first bucket in a @spurs uniform! #NBAPreseason pic.twitter.com/DfqOFD8Rg1

— NBA TV (@NBATV) September 30, 2018

That looks the same spot that Kawhi got his first points from.

[Hotshot]

That looks the same spot that Kawhi got his first points from.

We are living in a movie.

[Ebonhawke]

DeRozan with only 3 points in the first half on four shot attempts.

[KeonClark]

DeRozan with only 3 points in the first half on four shot attempts.

Hes getting easier shots

[rocwell]

[Truth Teller]

I like the new offense. I rather we have shooters who shoot 3s than someone shooting bad twos. But there will be nights where we play like the Rockets vs GS in game 7. Thats why we got Kawhi Leonard and Green; players who can shut the other team down when we are off on offense.

[Puffer]

...Lowry defence is bad on the ball he may need to come off the bench as a volume shooter...

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. Aw man.LOL.

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha.

You're great.

[golden]

Hes getting easier shots

He likes taking contested shots to draw fouls.

[MixxAOR]

Celtics looking good.

[Scraptor]

He likes taking contested shots to draw fouls.

Best +/- of the Spurs starters in his first game, not a bad start.

Jakob looked great. I'm guessing he'll be taking the bulk of minutes at C from Pau by season's end.

[sanyo]

Jakob with 10 boards in 18 mins... I really think he's going to integrate well in the Spurs system and be their top centre by next year...thats the one guy I was sad to see leave but thats ok...we still got Kawhi.

[Shaolin Fantastic]

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.

Before doing your massive analysis here you should probably take note of the fact that OG was supposed to be in that lineup not Miles. That would make it significantly better on the defensive end.