PRESEASON GAME 5: Toronto Raptors @ New Orleans Pelicans - OCT 11, 2018 8PM ET

[Maury]

Unlike Bruno, I've never said anything bad about Malachi. Quote me.

I don’t think you’ve ever claimed he was your boy before this. Honestly didn’t think he was anyone’s boy considering he’s only slightly better than Lorenzo Brown.

[The Great One]

My boy Malachi gonna explode for 50 tonight.

I don’t think you’ve ever claimed he was your boy before this. Honestly didn’t think he was anyone’s boy considering he’s only slightly better than Lorenzo Brown.

.

[Maury]

.

Damn, I was wrong.

This is a foreign feeling for me.

[GOLDBLUM]

Early last season I made a few comments to the effect that Lowry was in decline and I was promptly roasted by a number of RR brethren. As I was a rookie I hung my head in shame and reserved further comment. But now.....he very obviously is in decline. What worried me about last night's tantrum was that before he left he took a bunch of bad shots and tried to force some passes resulting in ugly turnovers. Those weren't "rust" mistakes, those were poor judgement mistakes. I'm thinking that during the past few seasons Kyle was comfortable in the "me and Demar" co-alpha dog role. Demar scored more but it was arguable that Kyle was the better player and team leader. But now you've got Kawhi Leonard who is by far the better player and you can already see on the court and on the bench that the other players are looking to him as "the man". This has got to be very hard on Kyle's ego. I'm thinking that his performance last night looked a little desperate and when he failed, then he tantrummed and WANTED to get kicked out. Like the kid who is failing math and getting embarrassed acting out in the classroom. Hopefully he'll figure it out; he can be the point guard and a leader but not have to be top dog. In fact it will take a lot of the pressure off. But if he can't get there mentally then the Raptors need to trade him.....and soon. From what I've seen so far I'd be quite happy with Van Vleet or Wright running this team.

(I always appreciate your posts though Mitch )

[GOLDBLUM]

Serve us up a sweet, sweet season opener thread, MixxAOR!!!!!

LET'S GET THIS SHIT STARTED FOR REAL!!!!

(Take your time. Looking forward )

[white men can't jump]

Early last season I made a few comments to the effect that Lowry was in decline and I was promptly roasted by a number of RR brethren. As I was a rookie I hung my head in shame and reserved further comment. But now.....he very obviously is in decline. What worried me about last night's tantrum was that before he left he took a bunch of bad shots and tried to force some passes resulting in ugly turnovers. Those weren't "rust" mistakes, those were poor judgement mistakes. I'm thinking that during the past few seasons Kyle was comfortable in the "me and Demar" co-alpha dog role. Demar scored more but it was arguable that Kyle was the better player and team leader. But now you've got Kawhi Leonard who is by far the better player and you can already see on the court and on the bench that the other players are looking to him as "the man". This has got to be very hard on Kyle's ego. I'm thinking that his performance last night looked a little desperate and when he failed, then he tantrummed and WANTED to get kicked out. Like the kid who is failing math and getting embarrassed acting out in the classroom. Hopefully he'll figure it out; he can be the point guard and a leader but not have to be top dog. In fact it will take a lot of the pressure off. But if he can't get there mentally then the Raptors need to trade him.....and soon. From what I've seen so far I'd be quite happy with Van Vleet or Wright running this team.

Or Lowry just doesn't give a fuck about preseason? Or hates the ref who was working that game?

Lets not freak out about him getting pissed at refs in a worthless preseason game. He looked fine in the first couple of games, including looking like he's in great shape.

Is Lowry declining? I'd say no, but he is aging, and he's smartly adjusting his game, which frankly needed some adjusting. He is doing his heaviest scoring damage from deep now, while still being a solid floor general. He is emphasizing scoring at the rim and FT line less, and more on punishing teams with his shooting and playmaking. Is he a bit slower? Maybe, but he was super quick when he was young. Meanwhile the constant attacking was taking its toll on his body in every other season, often helping to contribute to him being worn down in the playoffs and often not performing well. Last year he was maybe the freshest he's been and it was easily his most efficient playoffs ever and among his best.

I think everything will be fine once the real games start, him and Kawhi start finding chemistry, and the team starts winning some games.

*Just to add, I think we'll get more or less the same kind of Lowry as last year. I think with Kawhi and the deeper/better perimeter talent we have this year, that is good enough, especially if he again goes into the playoffs as fresh and healthy as possible.

[Scraptor]

Early last season I made a few comments to the effect that Lowry was in decline and I was promptly roasted by a number of RR brethren. As I was a rookie I hung my head in shame and reserved further comment. But now.....he very obviously is in decline. What worried me about last night's tantrum was that before he left he took a bunch of bad shots and tried to force some passes resulting in ugly turnovers. Those weren't "rust" mistakes, those were poor judgement mistakes. I'm thinking that during the past few seasons Kyle was comfortable in the "me and Demar" co-alpha dog role. Demar scored more but it was arguable that Kyle was the better player and team leader. But now you've got Kawhi Leonard who is by far the better player and you can already see on the court and on the bench that the other players are looking to him as "the man". This has got to be very hard on Kyle's ego. I'm thinking that his performance last night looked a little desperate and when he failed, then he tantrummed and WANTED to get kicked out. Like the kid who is failing math and getting embarrassed acting out in the classroom. Hopefully he'll figure it out; he can be the point guard and a leader but not have to be top dog. In fact it will take a lot of the pressure off. But if he can't get there mentally then the Raptors need to trade him.....and soon. From what I've seen so far I'd be quite happy with Van Vleet or Wright running this team.

Early last season you were roasted because you (and others) were jumping to conclusions after we totally revamped our offense. It takes time to adjust to a new offense, and point guards have the biggest challenge as the ones directing the offense. It's even harder when you've played the same way for five years.

The first 10 games of last season Kyle put up 12.4/5.1/6.5 on 51.0% TS.

The last 72 games of the season he put up 16.8/5.6/6.9 on 61.0% TS. Even including the rough start, that TS% was the second highest he's posted as a Raptor. He drove less because he iso'd less and it protected his body. His steal rate was down but you know what, he still posted the 4th best RPM in the entire NBA.

So jumping to conclusions is not a great idea.

And now Kyle gets in one little fight and you want to get scared, and trade him out of the city to god knows where? Overreacting and reading too much into stuff happens way too much with us, and we should try to keep the big picture in mind. If you trade our engine and FVV or Delon can't step up, what do you think the odds of Kawhi staying are? Because I'd say they're close to zero.

If Kyle declines this year we can trade him as a giant expiring next offseason. Jumping the gun now is a terrible idea.

[Yuri Gagarin]

Mitch P, “like the kid failing math”? Dude your way over analyzing lowry.

[G__Deane]

It was nothing but a fun pre-season game where we learned a lot about nothing. On to the real deal now, can't wait!

[golden]

It was nothing but a fun pre-season game where we learned a lot about nothing. On to the real deal now, can't wait!

Pascal punking Anthony Davis (perennial DPOY candidate) a few times has to do wonders for his confidence. And the Pels were actually trying to win last night. LOL.

[LJ2]

Pels announcers been talking about how Siakam was just having his way out there.

“Siakam may as well just flex like a bodybuilder, the way he’s knocking people around down there. It looks like nobody just wants to keep him off the box." They talked about Anthony Davis having blocked him twice early on, but since then Siakam is just going at him, and it looks like AD wants no part of him. Pascal with a double double, 21 points/11 reb, and we're still in the 3rd quarter. Lol.... Raps deep subs unit more than holding it's own against a Pels unit with some starters out there.


“A couple of these guys (Raptors subs) you might not know unless they came up to you and slapped you"

"Pels playing with their front line guys against a bunch of guys you haven't heard of until tonight." Lol....

We've officially turned into the new Spurs. Beating teams with our bench while our starters get the night off.

[G__Deane]

We've officially turned into the new Spurs. Beating teams with our bench while our starters get the night off.

With any luck, we see that quite a few times this season. I was one who thought the bench mob might take a step back this season but so far, so good! I have high hopes for Siakam particularly, if they take the shackles off.

[planetmars]

Was hoping to catch this one on replay. Saw the first quarter and I had to jet.

Looking at the box score, it seems like AD had a monster game, but it seems like their bench hemorrhaged a lot of points to our bench.

Can't believe we won with the likes of Brown and Richardson clocking 25 and 27 minutes respectively. And not only did we win.. we put up 134 points on the Pelicans who have a pretty rock solid defense with Holiday and Davis on the team.

Pelicans finished the preseason 0-5? Preseason means nothing but 0-5 is still pretty bad.

[veda-parabolist]

And now Kyle gets in one little fight and you want to get scared, and trade him out of the city to god knows where?

Chillin out, maxin, annoyed with the calls,
preseason game 4, Bell centre, Montreal.
A particular ref, he was up to no good,
Started making trouble like Kyle knew he would.
He got in one little fight and the fans got scared
They said "Kyle's immature, trade him to god knows where".

Scraptor I love how that was just snuck in there, no fanfare, just brilliant.

P.s. Mitch I'm not trying to pile on, I don't agree with you 100% but I see where you're coming from a bit. We all know Kyle's personality, he's a little impulsive and can be childish at times, but he's a competitor, and I think that within a few weeks we should likely see this as quite a non-issue. North Philadelphia, born and raised -- in the playground he used to spend most of his days, after all. He's grown up a bit, however, since then.

[KeonClark]

Same. Why's it assumed everyone would be interested?

It's not assumed. Was just light hearted as "die hard" is taken as a compliment when someone calls me one. I'm sorry i caused you to log in and post about it, didnt mean offense