[Article here](https://substack.com/notes/post/p-138101684)
>There will be rougher roads absent a true lead guard and perhaps another shooter (or two), but this team looks to be able to keep what has worked with new-and-effective wrinkles. If OG Anunoby continues to be a terrific, prototypical 3-and-D wing, this team might have a real chance at making the Final Four.
by bonniedi
15 Comments
Love me some OG and he’s still a solid 3&D wing but I’m not going to expect anything more from his game than what he has already shown us.
If the Raps run and have the same commitment they had during the pre season they will not only be a dangerous team in the east, actually fun to watch again.
I read the article. I’d love a final 4 but it seems a bit like click bait.
He’s definitely right that Pascal and Scottie are going to be a dynamic duo and Darko’s new coaching style is helping the Raptors excel in areas they didn’t before. We have some more holes to fix to be considered legitimate contenders or show consistency in what we have.
(We did that during the all star years of Demar and Lowry but then choked in the playoffs)
I believe that OG will be a dominant 3 and D player and compliment the dynamic duo. Hoping for a healthy season over anything else.
I think Thorpe knows way more behind the scenes then he would ever say. In another episode, he says he would never “break news” like woj and shams even though he easily could. He called the Nurse situation perfectly.
Top 4 is ridiculous. But essentially the same team made it to the 6th seed before…things went south. No reason why with better a offense, better players, etc they couldn’t be a 6th seed again.
He talks out his ass a bit, but he’s been a decent barometer on the raptors. Especially Scottie. So when he’s being positive, I’ll take it.
I’m just as high on the team to be honest. I think our weakness is backup PG obviously, but those minutes you stagger Pascal and Scottie and they can be the nominal PG. We are better than people think, and it’s going to be a fun year I think.
This is a hugeeee statement to make. Kudos.
They’d have to be better than the Bucks, Celtics, Sixers, and one of the rest. They don’t have the stars to match up with the Big 3, but the rest is food if this team can score better. He’s a little high on Barnes, but there’s reason for optimism.
Having Poeltl for a full season and an effective offense would address the two main issues from last season, which was ineffective rim protection leading to way too many threes, and a my-turn, your-turn offense that never produced good open looks in key possessions.
if these Raptors make the conference finals we might as well erect a Masai statue in the SBA concourse as part of the renovations
I’m starting to think David Thorpe is just doing this to get clicks from raptor fans
“There will be rougher roads absent a true lead guard and perhaps another shooter (or two), but this team looks to be able to keep what has worked with new-and-effective wrinkles. If OG Anunoby continues to be a terrific, prototypical 3-and-D wing, this team might have a real chance at making the Final Four.”
If this Raptors team (assuming no major trades happen aside from maybe some minor tweaks) makes the conference finals, I’ll get “Trust in Masai tattoed on my ass, thankfully there’s little to zero chance it happens.
However the people who think they’ll be a complete bottom feeder will be in for a surprise.
I think too many of us are caught up in labels, let’s try to use an analogy to see if this is possible. Calling the Raptors a top 4 team is effectively saying they can be as good as the Knicks last year. The standings in the east last year was as follows:
1. Bucks
2. Celtics
3. 76ers
4. Cavs
5. Knicks
And if you feel like the 76ers are in a really precarious spot (i.e. losing Harden), the next team to take that spot in the top 4 is the Knicks. So… do you think the Raptors can be as good as the Knicks? We’ve seen them play the Knicks (and other good teams) hard — the issue is mostly consistency.
Honestly I’m surprised how quickly people started selling on the Raptors. Going into last season they were a dark horse pick by a lot of people and had essentially the same roster as the year before which made the 6th seed. Starting the year out they looked fantastic, but after Siakam went down things started slowly falling apart. Clearly there were numerous issues related to roster construction, vibes, coaching, etc, but those have all been addressed to at least some extent.
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Nobody should be picking the Raptors as a contender to start the season (only way it happens is if we get some unpredictable leap from multiple players), but writing them out of the playoffs seems dumb. Outside of the Bucks, Celtics and to a lesser extent 6ers (we’ll have to see the Harden situation play out, but they’ve been a top 4 team 3 years in a row), the East’s playoff spots are up for grabs. Miami struggled during the regular season last year, Atlanta is such a wild card, Chicago isn’t the same team without Lonzo and every other team competing for a playoff spot is relatively young and inexperienced. I think the East is actually very close outside of the top 3 and I see no reason why any team landing in position 3-6 couldn’t make a case to advance to at least the 2nd round. Add in what happened last year and it shows we are seeing a level of parity in the NBA we haven’t seen for a long time.
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It’s a long season and nobody knows what will happen, but I think a lot of people are grossly underestimating the Raptors.
I think the main thing is that they have a true center.
Sucks that koloko is out. Really sucks.
A center alters it all and forgives a lot.