PRESEASON GAME 2: Toronto Raptors @ Utah Jazz - Oct 2nd, 9pm ET SN1

[Hotshot]

In other news: Bruno debuted today for the Rockets playing 9 mins, going 2 for 3 with 6 pts, 3 rbs, 2 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocks.

If Bruno become's a rotation player...we blew it!

[DanH]

In other news: Bruno debuted today for the Rockets playing 9 mins, going 2 for 3 with 6 pts, 3 rbs, 2 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocks.

If Bruno become's a rotation player...we blew it!

Did we? You seeing a lot of room for another fringe rotation player here?

[Yuri Gagarin]

He had a decent debut game here too like 10 years ago

[The Claw Reborn]

Headiner: I just hope Kawhi avoids any injury because this season could be one of his best.

Middle page: JV is in mid season form.

Garbage news: What to do with Siakam? Nurse giving him free reign in bringing the ball downcourt with no fucking purpose. People should quit feeding this guy the fantasy that he is Draymond Green lite. After making his first 3, he hurled two consecutive bricks...law of averages exhibited.

I have nightmares having him start at the PF position if Ibaka goes down.

I hope Masai should stop overrating his value in a possible trade scenario.

[The Claw Reborn]

The spacing and spreadout of shooters seem to be a concern to me. I hope Nurse can do some corrections.

[The Claw Reborn]

Wished Poetl stayed over Siakam.

[Hotshot]

Did we? You seeing a lot of room for another fringe rotation player here?

I see him being that 2 years away...

[grindhouse]

Headiner: I just hope Kawhi avoids any injury because this season could be one of his best.

Middle page: JV is in mid season form.

Garbage news: What to do with Siakam? Nurse giving him free reign in bringing the ball downcourt with no fucking purpose. People should quit feeding this guy the fantasy that he is Draymond Green lite. After making his first 3, he hurled two consecutive bricks...law of averages exhibited.

I have nightmares having him start at the PF position if Ibaka goes down.

I hope Masai should stop overrating his value in a possible trade scenario.

I honestly think he is a SF he has no clue how to play PF or center

[white men can't jump]

People need to not panic about the offence.

The one take away I have so far in terms of coaching is that Nurse is not even trying to coach to win in these first couple of games. He even mentioned in one of his scrums over the last few days that in the 1st game they didn't run any of the out of bounds plays they had been practicing and that he probably wouldn't use any of those in the preseason. That philosophy will probably extend at least somewhat to all areas of his coaching.

Leonard, Lowry and JV all look great. Leonard still needs to get his legs back (probably causing his bad FT shooting) but is playing pretty damn well for a guy who's barely played for over a year. Lowry and JV are both in great shape and playing well. Fred and Delon look ready to go as well. Miles is in much better shape than last year. Green looked a bit better tonight. Ibaka looks like...well pretty much like the same Ibaka as last year so far. Anyway, most of the rotation looks like they are at least physically ready to go, and key guys are playing well but just need time to develop chemistry.

Siakam is playing a bit out of control, but it's preseason and they clearly want to test how his development is going...shot is still ugly as fuck, and that's sad since him making the leap probably depends on it becoming at least somewhat reliable.

Norm still looks a lot like last season...damn it.

People also can't forget how good a piece OG was last year in stabilizing pretty much every lineup he played in by just being a solid defender and 5th option. His presence will help when he's able to come back. Thinking that may not be until next week (as in not sure if he'll play Friday).

The schemes will come along slowly with a new coach and a major new piece.

I doubt we'll see much change next game, since it's a tossaway against Melbourne. Probably see another few lineups that won't exist in regular season rotations, and little or no effort to really polish the O or D. Maybe by the last game against the Pelicans we'll start to see a bit more effort to show polish in schemes and tighten the rotation. Maybe not, though.

[Hotshot]

Ouch...scary looking injury..

[Nilanka]

Lol. Why did Collinsworth start...? I don't understand

This should prove that Nurse doesn't give two shits about Ws and Ls at this stage of the process. He's still evaluating.

[TrueTorontoFan]

People need to not panic about the offence.

The one take away I have so far in terms of coaching is that Nurse is not even trying to coach to win in these first couple of games. He even mentioned in one of his scrums over the last few days that in the 1st game they didn't run any of the out of bounds plays they had been practicing and that he probably wouldn't use any of those in the preseason. That philosophy will probably extend at least somewhat to all areas of his coaching.

Leonard, Lowry and JV all look great. Leonard still needs to get his legs back (probably causing his bad FT shooting) but is playing pretty damn well for a guy who's barely played for over a year. Lowry and JV are both in great shape and playing well. Fred and Delon look ready to go as well. Miles is in much better shape than last year. Green looked a bit better tonight. Ibaka looks like...well pretty much like the same Ibaka as last year so far. Anyway, most of the rotation looks like they are at least physically ready to go, and key guys are playing well but just need time to develop chemistry.

Siakam is playing a bit out of control, but it's preseason and they clearly want to test how his development is going...shot is still ugly as fuck, and that's sad since him making the leap probably depends on it becoming at least somewhat reliable.

Norm still looks a lot like last season...damn it.

People also can't forget how good a piece OG was last year in stabilizing pretty much every lineup he played in by just being a solid defender and 5th option. His presence will help when he's able to come back. Thinking that may not be until next week (as in not sure if he'll play Friday).

The schemes will come along slowly with a new coach and a major new piece.

I doubt we'll see much change next game, since it's a tossaway against Melbourne. Probably see another few lineups that won't exist in regular season rotations, and little or no effort to really polish the O or D. Maybe by the last game against the Pelicans we'll start to see a bit more effort to show polish in schemes and tighten the rotation. Maybe not, though.

yeah OG will help stabilize the ship ... his basketball IQ is one of the highest on the team clearly. We forget that we started some random scrub last night who was making dumb plays... im not worried about the following players:

Lowry
Leonard
JV
Ibaka
OG

past that we will have up and downs... I think FVV will play well but i do think we are overrating him a bit. That said he makes the right plays and can consistently get offence.

The defence seemed alright but the offence seems shitty so far. Kawhi is nutty... he can get his shot off when ever and he will basically be demar in terms of getting ot the line ... but he is just going to be better. He obviously likes the mid range but hes way better and way more efficient and just makes much better basketball plays.


the thing that seems most scary is our lack of passing.. i thought we would be doing less iso ball.. but i know its early yet.


our defence and the starting line up will be able to beat most teams in the league... its the bench that has me worried.

[inthepaint]

A big part of preseason is to see how guys on the tail end of the camp roster do. What's garbage time for everyone else, it's a gold opportunity for them to show what they've got.

And I'll tell ya, the altitude and the universe in general weren't kind today to Brown/ collingsworth/Loyd, and neither were they kind to the basketball. Even when the Jazz brought in their 3rd unit and the game devolved to G-League levels, Brown was difficult to watch. Like, I don't want to pick on the guy and maybe it's just war flashbacks from Casey trying to close important games with him last year, but I think he's had his chance.

Not really sure how "partially guaranteed" contracts like his work, but I hope we can have Moreland as the final 14th man for regular season instead.

[golden]

This should prove that Nurse doesn't give two shits about Ws and Ls at this stage of the process. He's still evaluating.

That's fine, but Collinsworth messed up the starting unit where it's more important that Kawhi develops some chemistry with Lowry and JV. If Nurse wanted an acid test to see how this guy stacks up against first line NBA talent, then that question was answered emphatically. Good luck in Turkey, Kyle.

[Demographic Shift]

This should prove that Nurse doesn't give two shits about Ws and Ls at this stage of the process. He's still evaluating.

It’s the pre season where wins and loses don’t matter much. Some not so prescient takeaways.

Our starters are pretty good. After two quarters they got the better of Utahs pretty good starters. Then they hit the pine.

Utah’s pretty good starters beat our reserves in the third quarter. I guess that’s why Utah is pretty good and our reserves are our reserves.

The whole fourth quarter was garbage time and most fans started to stick with the NL wild card game exclusively. At least this fan did.

Norm Powell has work to do. A lot of work.

Nick Nurse is a pretty decent guy in letting a local NCAA star see the floor early in front of his family and friends.

Back home for a weeks worth of practise before testing it all again in Brooklyn on the 10th.