The Impact of Barrett and Poeltl | Raptors Today

The Impact of Barrett and Poeltl | Raptors Today

Basketball fans still talking Raptors brand basketball one guy who’s relished his time here in Toronto I think it’s 12 games he’s averaged better than 20 points in each and every game he’s um shooting better than almost 50% from the field let’s talk about RJ Barrett uh and

How he’s impacted this group we’ll start with you Randy um were you surprised to see the shift in RJ after being moved from New York well I think what people talked about RJ was was a bit of a shot Hunter which you know I think for certain groups that

Actually is is beneficial it’s it’s when to to hunt and when to be aggressive is the thing and I and I noticed that um early on in his Raptor career there were three or four possessions where you kind of were like oh maybe pull that one back

A little bit maybe don’t take on three guys but I feel like I’ve seen a a a a real decrease in those possessions over the last three or four games and I’m really impressed with his compete level his his desire to get to the bucket um I

I like guys that want to go score the purpose of the game is to score more points than the other team and so when I watch him you know put the onus on himself to get a bucket left or right I saw him score right-handed yesterday

Which was great uh I get excited because now you I don’t want to say that he’s I don’t want to say that he’s better than I thought but he’s certainly playing more consistently than I thought he would play I’ll say this RJ to me has shown a few things that’s been

Impressive number one he’s in attack mode in a very smart way yeah and and to me when you get to see him play every day you realize how he attacks and you see the different ways he attacks the other thing is I like the fact that he shoot shooting the ball

From three better you know he’s getting that shot he’s set he’s shooting with confidence and you know it’s going to be an up and down ride but he can shoot the three and he keeps you honest from there he’s got I think he’s got to be open and

His feet set right he doesn’t you don’t want to I don’t think RJ should be shooting contested threes as much definitely not off the dribble but you’re not going to get a lot of open threes you’re right when he gets that when he gets space time and space and

The other thing is his movement off the ball offensively 100% yeah it’s it’s very good and it might go unnoticed a bit all of a sudden he pops up for a layup but his timing his ability to recognize what the defense is doing and then get into the

Creases and those seams of the defense to present himself it’s still a part of a scorers mentality yeah but he does it off the ball as well and I think that to me is is something that in coming to Toronto might have been underrated that he could do at this

Level so consistently he does a great job and defensively you notice that he’s on the toughest his check perimeter wise M and obviously that might not be his best situation but darko’s putting him there because he feels that he can do that job he’s issu a Challen and he’s

Physical and he’s tough and he’s going to stay in the fight and I think when you’re looking at a guy who can do those things you’re looking at both sides of the basketball and as we get to see him more I think we’re going to appreciate

More of the value that he brings in all those areas and he runs the floor okay scor run the floor scorers do easy buckets 100 I just want to interrupt and give a shout out to Metro linkx who’s currently still building that Subway for you for me yes Subway guy underneath us right

Now so if you do hear a little extra noise that’s Metro linkx in action but let’s talk about the missing man right now for the Toronto Raptors and that’s the San yaka who was sorely missed against Memphis uh and we take a look at the numbers um Raptor’s defensive rating

With and without and it speaks volumes to the Val value of yakob Sher I’ll start with you no KN that this young group is trying to find itself how much of a security blanket is he going to be for them as they find their identity not

Just on the offensive side but really on the defensive side well when you think about yaka perto you don’t think about a a defensive stopper at The Rim but what you do think of his size at the basket you think of a guy who can think his way

Defensively communicate on the back end he can block shots he can alter shots and I think the fact that you have when he’s healthy he’s engaged defensively that might be the biggest thing rotating properly presenting himself as a defensive resistance that’s something that you need and and without him there

The defense on the perimeter kind of get softer yeah because you’re not going to get up into people if you don’t think anybody’s back there to help and when you play softer defense in this league either you’re giving up threes or you’re giving up drives and I think we’re

Seeing that happen to the Raptors and when they’re giving up the bucket there’s nobody back there to alter the shot or block the rim so it’s yakov’s important yeah the roster has very little size 100% And yakob is very important and like I said not a defensive stopper but a defensive guy

Who will help your team anchor the defensive end yeah you know I think he’s one of the most unselfish players in the NBA and and when you have that offensively it’s great for everybody because he gets everybody involved and you’re right defensively he just sh he

Just knows how to play he just knows in what spot to be and whenn and that’s so valuable especially with guys you know he cleans up a lot of messes guys getting you know beat off the dribble from from the point of attack at the top

Of the key or you know he he’s able to shut those possessions off or at least alter them where you can kind of recover you’re right he’s not he’s going to block some shots but he’s not going to be you know DMI mutambo waving a finger in somebody’s face but like this guy

Knows how to play basketball he he’s learned under under Greg papovich he was here as a raptor like he he it’s funny because people were talking about him negatively the fans you know uh earlier on in the season no he did play this guy

Is this guy is you need a guy like this on your team and I will say this we talked about the offensive inconsistencies remember yakob is a very good passer as a big he’s a good screen and roll guy he can roll to the bucket

Short roll he can he can spread it out he can move the ball off the screen and roll so on both ends of the floor they miss him it’s not just a defensive end like that board showed offensively he’s very good at facilitating or scoring around the basket all right right now we

Got to check in with the Players let’s check in with the Toronto Raptors post game how much are you excited about the idea of like Darko over the next few days with practice taking some of the stuff that did work in New York and like giving you even more packages within the

Raptor offense uh I think it helps and uh for sure just with our office that we have here um uh me being able to get downhill like you said tonight I scored the ball uh but for the most part it’s just been trying to make reads trying to make the

The best reads available tonight I was able to get all the way to the couple lot the time so I took that but um you know a game like New York they came in and I hit Grady for a couple threes uh last game just you know just trying to

Make the right plays uh and and see how the teams are guarding me how they’re guarding us and just try to adjust Bas off of that

On today’s show, the hosts talk about how RJ Barrett is developing with the team, and how Jakob Poeltl’s presence is missed.

0:00 Introduction
0:15 RJ Barrett
1:37 What Has RJ Shown so Far?
3:30 With and Without Jakob Poeltl
6:29 RJ postgame sound

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