Slightly worse than last years team, still a play in though imo
No-Language710
Play in.
AHImusic
Siakam is a wing, Barnes is a guard. Just to stir the pot a little.
Cheechers23
There’s a lot riding on Scottie. If this team wants to get back into the playoffs or at least upper half of the play-in, he’s gonna have to take a leap. Darko keeps talking about putting the ball in his hands, so our success this year is reliant on how much better he is.
We really need Scottie and Pascal to be at least like 35% 3PT shooters. If they can do that or better, it opens up the starting lineup a lot more.
dfsaqwe
guard rotation among the weakest in the league?
dot_com-ca
Incomplete
attilajg
knucknbuc
Not good with 1 and 1/2 shooters under .500
Ssstanimal
Really mid.
jyh123
The big bet here is we hired every development coach available. Masai clearly believes there’s more to these guys than they have shown.
Won’t know until 20 games in, but we should expect better shooting, decision making, effort on defence from stars and effort on offence from role players, players playing more freely (not scared of getting yanked after one mistake or missed shot) but knowing their roles and boundaries.
pallychoo
35-40 win team
YoungSidd
In terms of the positional depth chart, I’d lay it out as:
– PG = Schroder, Flynn, Nowell
– SG = Trent, Dick
– SF = Anunoby, Porter
– PF = Siakam, Barnes, Achiuwa, Boucher, McDaniels, Young
– C = Poeltl, Koloko
Obviously our PFs can slide up or down a position due to their versatility, with Pascal/Scottie even capable of running point for some stretches.
thistreestands
Hard to say. So much of the issues I felt last year were related to Nurse and FVV and they are both gone. Need to see their systems and whether they have the right parts.
highburymeag5
If the siakam trade gives us a talented young guard we will have a balanced squad
GirbaudJeansMan
Lol what’s the O/U on our win total again?
tittyberry
I can’t believe Flynn still exists in the NBA.
Kevita24
GtotheE
It’s not a super impressive lineup, based purely on our guard lineup. But I think that it can be fixed with a move or two.
Im excited to see what Darko can do as a coach. He’s the most likeable guy we’ve ever hired as a coach, and I’m optimistic that he’ll really brighten up the chemistry of the team. I think he’s the Serbian Ted Lasso.
No matter what the roster is, I’d just like to watch a fun season of basketball. Last season (and the Tampa season) were not fun for the most part. I see Raptors basketball as a TV show, with good seasons and bad ones. If I’m going to commit another 120 hours (or whatever) this coming season to Raptors ball, I’d like the product to be something exciting and worthwhile. Whether that’s by adding youth and shooting in a Siakam trade, Someone like Dame in a Barnes trade, or a complete surprise, I don’t really care (as long as it’s not seriously hurting our future seasons).
If we do nothing? The entertainment level of our season would hinge on things like Pascal/Scottie improving their shooting, Dick/Nowell having promising rookie seasons, OG/Jakob/Porter staying healthy, Scottie taking the next step, Precous/Koloko/McDaniels becoming consistent contributors or whatever else. I don’t think enough of those things will happen to return to being a 45-50 win team, but it’s not impossible either. If nothing else, I’d expect to see a lot more minutes from guys deeper in the rotation, which will be more interesting than watching six guys play an entire game and look exhausted by the end.
sor2hi
This isn’t a good way of breaking down the roster.
Possible starters, bench, depth.
Scottie, Pascal, OG, Yak are starters. Then you fill a spot with Schroeder or Trent.
The other is the 1st guard off the bench.
Boucher is the first big and after the top 7 it is up in the air.
Anyone of the bottom 8 could get into the top 10 and maybe 1 or 2 of them might displace a top 7 player.
How are Fred’s 35 min going to be used? Are guys going to take the opportunity and grow or will it be a burden trying to patch together a lineup that doesn’t suck?
Then it is all about injuries and filling roles. Honestly the team has so many question marks on the deep bench. Porter could be a key piece or a zero again, Precious is the same. Flynn could just be the guy that was always in the dog house and will be in the rotation with a new coach. Koloko, Dick, McDaniels, Young, Nowell, they all could be something but but also end up as zeros.
pinhead-l
Well our young guys will finally have a chance to shine
lillithfair98
I am convinced this team is no worse than last year.
QueasyDrummer00
Unless Scottie or Pascal becomes a 37%+ shooter from 3 this is going to be tough. Having 3 starters be terrible shooters really handicaps what you can do offensively.
dokterr
45 wins
whiiskio
30 wins at best.
Zero playmaking threats aside from Barnes and Schroder, only two proven shooters in GTJ and OG, and no guard or big man depth after Schroder or Poeltl. This is assuming Pascal gets traded but even with him, maaaybe 35 wins.
grapedinosour
What I took from this is that Josh Lewenberg doesn’t understand NBA positions.
yahyuhyahyuhyah
damn for some reason i forgot thad and otto were still on the team
itsasdf
If the Raptors don’t make any moves to upgrade the point guard spot, I sure hope all of you Malachi Flynn truthers are right about him….. That point guard rotation makes me nervous as hell.
JuicerBoost
Gonna be a long year….
AlexRescueDotCom
LOL so much pressure on Scottie. If he doesn’t become a 25ppg player this season, we are done.
JediRaptor2018
I think we are around the same as last year – a lot of it comes down to injuries across the league and our own team. I definitely do not think we are worse off than last year. My guess is around the .500 mark again and back to the play-in.
There is also a chance we may see some roster changes come Training Camp; let’s revisit this in September.
LemmingPractice
I would ignore the classifications here, partially because they are off, but partially because if we start the season with this roster it will be on a plan to be more of a Vision 6’9″ position-fluid type of approach.
Despite the negativity, I am actually really excited about this roster. I remember how good things looked late in the 2021-2022 when FVV was injured and we leaned on Pascal and Scottie to run the offence. Even while starting guys like Armoni Brooks, Malachi Flynn and Khem Birch we made a run in the standings. That late season run, largely without Fred, and largely without OG, is what got us the 5-seed, got Pascal All-NBA and got Scottie ROTY, then we abandoned that this past year.
I think the idea of constructing the offence around our two point-forwards is the way to go, and will create a lot of problems for other teams.
A starting lineup of Poeltl, Siakam, Scottie, OG and GTJ should be elite defensively. Offensively, there will be a mismatch or two on the floor at all times with that sort of size, and we should dominate the glass.
Schroeder was at his best as a 6th man in OKC (runner-up for 6MOTY), and if he could embrace that role, that would give us an element we really lacked last year.
Koloko isn’t being talked about much, but we were excellent whenever we had a true center on the floor last year ([+9.25 in 802 minutes with Koloko on the floor and +8.13 in 707 minutes with Poeltl on the floor](http://www.pbpstats.com/wowy-combos/nba?TeamId=1610612761&Season=2022-23&SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&PlayerIds=1627751,1631132), with an elite defence in both cases), and that was with Koloko being a very raw rookie. If he can control the fouling and even just add a bit of offensive awareness (ideally learning from some of Yak’s screening and positioning prowess) then he could be a really important rotation piece this year.
Precious had some spurts of looking really good last year, although the injuries interrupted his progress. His significant improvement on his free throw percentage last year (70.2%, after being 59.5% as a sophomore and 50.9% as a rookie) is a key marker. Making his freebies will improve his value, but it’s also a good indicator that his shot could become a more consistent weapon, which is the real swing skill for him. Every time his three point shot has gotten hot he looks like an absolute stud in the making. A league average three point shot with the rim-running, rebounding and defence he already has would make him a very valuable player.
I’m pretty hyped about Gradey, too. I think he will be a contributor as a rookie, and his shot could help open up a lot for the offence. He will probably struggle with the physicality of the NBA until he adds a bit more strength and size, but as a rotation movement shooter he could be a solid contributor as a rookie. I also like his long term upside once he does add some strength. His passing feel, midrange game, and help defence give him the potential to develop into more than just a shooter.
Boucher, of course, is a solid bench contributor, and we know what we will get with him. Jalen Daniels should be a good rotation player, too, and I think he has development potential. A healthy OPJ could be a really important contributor, too. We got him because he’s a 6’8″ wing who is a career 40% three point shooter, and can create his own shot, and if he can get back to looking like he did with the Warriors, he would be a huge boost to the bench.
While I know not everyone is going to work out as well as hoped, and injuries will chip away at that depth, I can’t help but look at the squad and think that the dearth of depth that killed us last year could be a strength this year. We lost a key starter in Fred, but we added three potentially key rotation players (Schroeder, Gradey and McDaniels) at the same time, while potentially getting a fourth if OPJ is healthy again. Considering how bad the bench was last year, that trade-off might not actually be bad.
Overall, I think we are being underestimated, especially in this sub. If Scottie can take a third year leap, this team will surprise a lot of people.
I don’t think it is unreasonable at all to expect this team to be able to land a 5 or 6 seed, with the potential to push 50 wins if we can regain the chemistry this team seemed to have lost last year.
31 Comments
Slightly worse than last years team, still a play in though imo
Play in.
Siakam is a wing, Barnes is a guard. Just to stir the pot a little.
There’s a lot riding on Scottie. If this team wants to get back into the playoffs or at least upper half of the play-in, he’s gonna have to take a leap. Darko keeps talking about putting the ball in his hands, so our success this year is reliant on how much better he is.
We really need Scottie and Pascal to be at least like 35% 3PT shooters. If they can do that or better, it opens up the starting lineup a lot more.
guard rotation among the weakest in the league?
Incomplete
Not good with 1 and 1/2 shooters under .500
Really mid.
The big bet here is we hired every development coach available. Masai clearly believes there’s more to these guys than they have shown.
Won’t know until 20 games in, but we should expect better shooting, decision making, effort on defence from stars and effort on offence from role players, players playing more freely (not scared of getting yanked after one mistake or missed shot) but knowing their roles and boundaries.
35-40 win team
In terms of the positional depth chart, I’d lay it out as:
– PG = Schroder, Flynn, Nowell
– SG = Trent, Dick
– SF = Anunoby, Porter
– PF = Siakam, Barnes, Achiuwa, Boucher, McDaniels, Young
– C = Poeltl, Koloko
Obviously our PFs can slide up or down a position due to their versatility, with Pascal/Scottie even capable of running point for some stretches.
Hard to say. So much of the issues I felt last year were related to Nurse and FVV and they are both gone. Need to see their systems and whether they have the right parts.
If the siakam trade gives us a talented young guard we will have a balanced squad
Lol what’s the O/U on our win total again?
I can’t believe Flynn still exists in the NBA.
It’s not a super impressive lineup, based purely on our guard lineup. But I think that it can be fixed with a move or two.
Im excited to see what Darko can do as a coach. He’s the most likeable guy we’ve ever hired as a coach, and I’m optimistic that he’ll really brighten up the chemistry of the team. I think he’s the Serbian Ted Lasso.
No matter what the roster is, I’d just like to watch a fun season of basketball. Last season (and the Tampa season) were not fun for the most part. I see Raptors basketball as a TV show, with good seasons and bad ones. If I’m going to commit another 120 hours (or whatever) this coming season to Raptors ball, I’d like the product to be something exciting and worthwhile. Whether that’s by adding youth and shooting in a Siakam trade, Someone like Dame in a Barnes trade, or a complete surprise, I don’t really care (as long as it’s not seriously hurting our future seasons).
If we do nothing? The entertainment level of our season would hinge on things like Pascal/Scottie improving their shooting, Dick/Nowell having promising rookie seasons, OG/Jakob/Porter staying healthy, Scottie taking the next step, Precous/Koloko/McDaniels becoming consistent contributors or whatever else. I don’t think enough of those things will happen to return to being a 45-50 win team, but it’s not impossible either. If nothing else, I’d expect to see a lot more minutes from guys deeper in the rotation, which will be more interesting than watching six guys play an entire game and look exhausted by the end.
This isn’t a good way of breaking down the roster.
Possible starters, bench, depth.
Scottie, Pascal, OG, Yak are starters. Then you fill a spot with Schroeder or Trent.
The other is the 1st guard off the bench.
Boucher is the first big and after the top 7 it is up in the air.
Anyone of the bottom 8 could get into the top 10 and maybe 1 or 2 of them might displace a top 7 player.
How are Fred’s 35 min going to be used? Are guys going to take the opportunity and grow or will it be a burden trying to patch together a lineup that doesn’t suck?
Then it is all about injuries and filling roles. Honestly the team has so many question marks on the deep bench. Porter could be a key piece or a zero again, Precious is the same. Flynn could just be the guy that was always in the dog house and will be in the rotation with a new coach. Koloko, Dick, McDaniels, Young, Nowell, they all could be something but but also end up as zeros.
Well our young guys will finally have a chance to shine
I am convinced this team is no worse than last year.
Unless Scottie or Pascal becomes a 37%+ shooter from 3 this is going to be tough. Having 3 starters be terrible shooters really handicaps what you can do offensively.
45 wins
30 wins at best.
Zero playmaking threats aside from Barnes and Schroder, only two proven shooters in GTJ and OG, and no guard or big man depth after Schroder or Poeltl. This is assuming Pascal gets traded but even with him, maaaybe 35 wins.
What I took from this is that Josh Lewenberg doesn’t understand NBA positions.
damn for some reason i forgot thad and otto were still on the team
If the Raptors don’t make any moves to upgrade the point guard spot, I sure hope all of you Malachi Flynn truthers are right about him….. That point guard rotation makes me nervous as hell.
Gonna be a long year….
LOL so much pressure on Scottie. If he doesn’t become a 25ppg player this season, we are done.
I think we are around the same as last year – a lot of it comes down to injuries across the league and our own team. I definitely do not think we are worse off than last year. My guess is around the .500 mark again and back to the play-in.
There is also a chance we may see some roster changes come Training Camp; let’s revisit this in September.
I would ignore the classifications here, partially because they are off, but partially because if we start the season with this roster it will be on a plan to be more of a Vision 6’9″ position-fluid type of approach.
Despite the negativity, I am actually really excited about this roster. I remember how good things looked late in the 2021-2022 when FVV was injured and we leaned on Pascal and Scottie to run the offence. Even while starting guys like Armoni Brooks, Malachi Flynn and Khem Birch we made a run in the standings. That late season run, largely without Fred, and largely without OG, is what got us the 5-seed, got Pascal All-NBA and got Scottie ROTY, then we abandoned that this past year.
I think the idea of constructing the offence around our two point-forwards is the way to go, and will create a lot of problems for other teams.
A starting lineup of Poeltl, Siakam, Scottie, OG and GTJ should be elite defensively. Offensively, there will be a mismatch or two on the floor at all times with that sort of size, and we should dominate the glass.
Schroeder was at his best as a 6th man in OKC (runner-up for 6MOTY), and if he could embrace that role, that would give us an element we really lacked last year.
Koloko isn’t being talked about much, but we were excellent whenever we had a true center on the floor last year ([+9.25 in 802 minutes with Koloko on the floor and +8.13 in 707 minutes with Poeltl on the floor](http://www.pbpstats.com/wowy-combos/nba?TeamId=1610612761&Season=2022-23&SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&PlayerIds=1627751,1631132), with an elite defence in both cases), and that was with Koloko being a very raw rookie. If he can control the fouling and even just add a bit of offensive awareness (ideally learning from some of Yak’s screening and positioning prowess) then he could be a really important rotation piece this year.
Precious had some spurts of looking really good last year, although the injuries interrupted his progress. His significant improvement on his free throw percentage last year (70.2%, after being 59.5% as a sophomore and 50.9% as a rookie) is a key marker. Making his freebies will improve his value, but it’s also a good indicator that his shot could become a more consistent weapon, which is the real swing skill for him. Every time his three point shot has gotten hot he looks like an absolute stud in the making. A league average three point shot with the rim-running, rebounding and defence he already has would make him a very valuable player.
I’m pretty hyped about Gradey, too. I think he will be a contributor as a rookie, and his shot could help open up a lot for the offence. He will probably struggle with the physicality of the NBA until he adds a bit more strength and size, but as a rotation movement shooter he could be a solid contributor as a rookie. I also like his long term upside once he does add some strength. His passing feel, midrange game, and help defence give him the potential to develop into more than just a shooter.
Boucher, of course, is a solid bench contributor, and we know what we will get with him. Jalen Daniels should be a good rotation player, too, and I think he has development potential. A healthy OPJ could be a really important contributor, too. We got him because he’s a 6’8″ wing who is a career 40% three point shooter, and can create his own shot, and if he can get back to looking like he did with the Warriors, he would be a huge boost to the bench.
While I know not everyone is going to work out as well as hoped, and injuries will chip away at that depth, I can’t help but look at the squad and think that the dearth of depth that killed us last year could be a strength this year. We lost a key starter in Fred, but we added three potentially key rotation players (Schroeder, Gradey and McDaniels) at the same time, while potentially getting a fourth if OPJ is healthy again. Considering how bad the bench was last year, that trade-off might not actually be bad.
Overall, I think we are being underestimated, especially in this sub. If Scottie can take a third year leap, this team will surprise a lot of people.
I don’t think it is unreasonable at all to expect this team to be able to land a 5 or 6 seed, with the potential to push 50 wins if we can regain the chemistry this team seemed to have lost last year.