A New Era & A New Dynasty – Outside Looking In w/ Samson Folk & Matt Brooks

4 Comments

1. Kevin Sutton 1 year ago

   I love it! Keep sleeping on the Raptors. I'm not sure if y'all realized that you already said it: They will be a top defense, that's pretty clear. Their floor on offense, even with a cratering half-court, will be crashing the offensive glass and transition, which you said took them to 12th on offense at the end of last year. There's no universe where a #7 defense and a #12 offense ends up at the bottom of the league.

   There was a game against Atlanta last year, with VanVleet out, that I think is instructive of how this team will play this year. Scottie ran point, and we blew them out by 30.

   Here's a deep dive I'd like for you to consider exploring – I did this for myself a few weeks back: How does this team stack up against the last four champions roster-wise? Here's the format I used and am suggesting: I looked at each of the last four champs and divided the roster into tiers. Each of those rosters had a clear top player through whom the offense ran. Half had a clear second superstar (AD and Murray), with the other half having small group of fringe all-stars. Then there were reliable elite role-players, and last solid rotation play-off performers. Starting at the bottom tier, we have a number of guys who have been solid play-off contributors on the level of those teams (7th or 8th men): Porter Jr., McDaniels, and Boucher. We can even fill out a comparable 3rd through 6th man group out of Anunoby, Trent Jr., Schroder, Poeltl, and Barnes. Pascal has already proved his second-on-a-championship-team bonafides, and it is inarguable that he is a far better player now than he was then. The only spot where don't compare to those winning teams roster-wise is that top player spot. We don't have a Jokic/Lebron/Curry/Antetokounmpo-level player at the moment, but we all know that we are squinting our asses off trying to see Scottie become that dude, or see Siakam suddenly become an elite movement shooter and get there. And this little exercise doesn't even include potential breakouts from Achiuwa, Koloko, and/or Dick contributing significantly right away.

   This isn't to say that the Raptors are contenders, or just a superstar away from being one. It's to say that considering the Raptors a bottom-feeder is ludicrous. Could Schroder give you what Bruce Brown gave the Nuggets? 100%. Could Trent Jr. give you what KCP did? 100%. Could Poeltl have an equivalent impact to MPJ? Absolutely. Could O.G. give you what Aaron Gordon did? Yup, and then some. We already know that Pascal could easily have Murray's impact. Could we squint and see a world where Scottie is as dominant as the Joker…errr… probably not, but I could see a dominant triple-double machine for sure in the next few years, if not on the Joker's level.

   Now, of course there's a lot more that goes into it than just the roster construction, but those other aspects are what got Rajakovic the job. And who is going to be better than us? Not Charlotte, Detroit, Washington, Chicago, or Orlando. Atlanta is a mess. Brooklyn is in transition. Even though they are in flux, we could say that Boston, Philly, Miami, Cleveland, and Milwaukee are ahead of us. And I think it would be a coin-flip between us and New York/Indiana to make the playoffs outright. If I had to predict our spot, I would say that the combination of fresh coaching energy, more shooting, multiple top players in contract years, and most importantly the whole league (including a lot of our own media) disrespecting both us and basic reality puts us in fifth (with one or more of those teams ahead of us collapsing).

2. Guardian Transit 1 year ago

   We have Dick, Trent, Porter and possibly McDaniels who can shoot the ball. It is a fact of how Darko decides to incorporate them for team success

3. DeAndre Page 1 year ago

   2020-21 Dennis Schroder scored 15.4 points per game and collected 5.8 assists per game when he still had 3 AND-D PLAYER KCP. Lakers foolishly traded KCP.
   Toronto better give Dennis Schroder 2 shooters.

4. David Blair 1 year ago

   Offensively what you are missing out on is Scottie Barnes is not a guard or wingman period. 28% from 3 and 77% from the line with a lack of that leadership quality that makes PGs stand out means Barnes should not even be in the lineup. The Raptor talent is up front. A pass first point guard will get the forwards the ball in better scoring positions than they have had with Van Vleet and Arguably Lowry. Shroder coming of his MVP at the worlds is ready to start the seaon with the Raptors at point. My dark horse for this team is Markquis Nowell if he overcomes his size disadvantage which I think he will. He was an excellent leader at Kansas and shot 35.5% from 3, shot 89% from the line and dished out 8.3 assist per 40 minute games. Tent at 24 years old and improving, shot 37% from 3 and can take over games. Anunoby is an excellent defender and shot almost 39% from 3. He is still only 26 years old and is ready for a Kwai Leonard type breakout year. Siakam with a pass first point guard will have the season of his career and be top 5 in the league. Poetl will continue to do what he was brought in for, a 7'1" rim protector and mid teen scoring numbers. Barnes will be good off the bench and now that Nick the cancer Nurse is gone the other bench players will start to improve given the chance to play more critical minutes. Not 1 of the top 7 players is even 30 yet. Do not overlook this team on offense, I would put them up against any team and other than the Celtics and maybe the Bucks they are the next best.