The Toronto Raptors have had a ROUGH preseason. Between injuries to Scottie Barnes, Otto Porter Jr, Justin Champagnie, and a 2-2 start in which the team’s offense has looked anything but smooth, it feels the dinos have their work cut out for them ahead of the season opener on October 19th.
One big surprise has been the play of last year’s rookie of the year Scottie Barnes, who has yet to crack double digits in scoring, who has turned the ball over recklessly, and who has seemed to have issues starting the offense in the halfcourt.
Should Raptor fans be worried about four preseason games? Should Barnes’ early struggles be a warning for a sophomore slump? Should fans be worried about OG Anunoby’s, Fred VanVleet’s and Pascal Siakam’s cold outside shooting? We tackle all that and more in today’s mailbag episode.
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0:00 – INTRO
1:00- Scottie Barnes woes
5:55- Preseason review
10:00- Siakam’s defense
16:10 – Final roster spot
18:25- Mailbag questions
Soundstripe ID: SFFNHVJKIZRAPHIL
#torontoraptors #scottiebarnes #nba
23 Comments
Yes i have been thinking the same about Alvin Williams!! He is so wack, Sherman Hamilton shouldve taken over Leos old spot. Do you notice he tends to speak about something that Matt Devlin initially mentions. He stretches out what hes talking about way too long. He talks down about himself too much. He just sounds boring.
Great stuff as usual. I didn't watch the last game, but I actually like Alvin. He is a work in progress obviously, but has a sort of stoic? … or proud.. undertone that really seemed to work for me (last season) when the starting core began to forge… He's not Jack, but I'm willing to give him time.
Dwane Casey will be COTY
Great show, I really enjoyed it. Even the questions were good. Congrats, on your channel growing so fast, almost 3k, and already a 3rd have watched this video. I have a lot to say, so I will do it in a few comments.
I agree 100%, that the Raps should keep Champaignie. That roster spot will not be used much, as the Raps have a 13/14 man rotation ahead of the final roster spots. Champagnie, is a developing bench player for the future, Jackson is just another Stanley Johnson type, who won't get many minutes.
I would add the Celtics, as another team built on a similar philosophy as the Raps. The system is 1 thing, but it helps to have players like Curry & Tatum, who enhance, and add to the system.
Preseason does not mean much, for vets, who are trying to work on their weaknesses, and conserving energy, for the long season. Yet, it means a lot to players fighting for a roster spot, or a bigger role.
Toronto fans are very impulsive, emotional, and insecure. "The Harold Ballard Syndrome", from years of failure. Also that was enhanced by the Jays playoff collapse, and the Leafs losing the 1st game to a lottery team, playing 4 rookie defensemen. Many Toronto fans are just reactive, without the patience for a long term vision. Scottie will be fine.
I love SGA, but he is too much of an injury risk, being built like A.D.. If he could be had cheap, I might gamble on him, but he won't come cheap, and just because of health concerns, I would not give up what it will cost to get him.
You were right on about Fred. I know from personal experience, the limitations of rehab on the knees. Ask me to walk 30 miles, no problem. Ask me to walk up 3 flights of stairs, "problem". You shoot from the knees, and Fred is a distance shooter. It was a very bad decision for him not to get the knee surgery. Now he will be shooting, from a shaky base. Also, I have observed the same thing with Fred holding onto the ball for a long time, even when he is not taking the ball up court, or playing PG, "tick, tick, goes the clock, the defenses set, and adjust, while Fred wastes time with the ball. To answer my earlier question, maybe it should be Fred coming off the bench?
I have lots to say re; OG/Spicy, …
1- I believe the small ball line ups, asking OG & Spicy, to play center, has hurt their "D". They are learning a new position, often playing against bigger players, at the same time. AD, said he hates to play center because it takes too much out of him, and that is what we have seen from both OG & Pascal. Small ball may work, but it has had an effect on OG/Spicy. It is a very exhausting demanding position. The wear and tear, does have consequences.
2- I noticed something strange about OG, when he was playing center this preseason. I mentioned that to Kenyon. OG was just standing under the basket, and not moving, or cutting down the angles, leaving lots of space for attackers. I am not sure why? Maybe, he has an injury? He has looked awkward, and lacking mobility this preseason? Injury? Too much time in the weight room? I don't know what it is, but I saw it in the preseason. Kind of fits with your observations, lets hope it is just a small injury.
3- I remember at the start of last season, many high IQ Raps fans were predicting a breakout season for OG, and star status. I took a lot of flack, because I disagreed with them. I thought OG is a very good 3 & D, player, a better version of Demarre Caroll, but I never thought he would develop the ball skills, to be the 1, or 2 option on a team. Many just had unrealistic expectations for OG, he never had great handles, or agility with the ball, so it was not realistic to expect him to develop that at a high level. OG is a big man, he will never be a twinkle toes, or ballerina.
4- It is great that Siakam wants to improve, and is motivated to become a top 5 player, however that won't happen, lol. It was not a good thing for him to say, in the context of having a fan base that has always measured him the wrong way, because they had unrealistic expectations for him. Pascal, is a very good player, who is very good at many things, but not great at one thing. Pascal, is a Swiss army knife, not a sword. He won't shoot the 3 like a KAT, but he will defend, and he will never be a liability who gets benched in the playoffs, because he is so sensitive to match ups. Pascal's value is not as being the go to scorer, but being a Robin, who will do many other things to help his team win, and we will never see Spicy get benched in the playoffs! If anyone is expecting Pascal to become Lebron, the problem is with his/her judgement, not Siakam.
Are people aware that Siakam led the league in average minutes per game, and had to learn the most physically demanding position? Yet he still performed decent in the playoffs. I disagree that he was not good defensively, he had one bad game on "D", against the 76ers. And he never looked as bad defensively, as a tired Embid often looked in 3rd quarters, and Embid is a great defender. Players like Durant, Giannis, Butler, George, Embid, Booker, also have bad games in the playoffs. But if Spicy has a mediocre game, he is judged differently by some fans.
Ngl the whole fan base in the weeds with the cuts this year, this preseason craziness has stoked thoses flames, but the money has said for awhile now, gabe, dj, josh is about to be cut imo based on so many factors but ultimately it’s about players that can grow this season and in the future at a pace that’s high, and I have said as much in like all my videos, so I leave it there, I’m kinda done with preseason and the insta-takes based on like the summer and preseason weight beyond history and real game stats
Lmaooooo thats what I've been saying and tweeting since last year bro Alvin Williams is so bad my god it kinda hurts… The guy can't put competent sentences together… And says like literally gibberish. Like literally things that don't make sense or exist… Its crazy lmaooo like why do they do this shyt to us… There are actual broadcasters out there and they give us this wack low talent broadcasters just cause he played basketball and basketball in Toronto??? Just awful management man. This is shyt we have to watch every other day why the hell are they actively ruining games for us having to listen to crap… Really disappointed in our broadcast scouting team like REALLY?? nobody could see when hiring how bad this guy is?? Savannah is far more concise and competent.. Its more rather nervousness and rookie shyt with her. She will get better. ALVIN actually can not speak English lmaooo like he will not get better… He is that uneducated and very lacking of communication skills… Don't even know why the guy pursued a broadcast career…. You should know yourself you're trash and pursue something else lmaooooooo
ugh tuff love kiddies
Nah bro I gotta call you out on siakam though. To single out siakam is delusional. 1st off I've seen countless times our rookie of the year get blown by much much much more than siakam. Og our best defender gets blown by so much its insane also. To single out siakam is just hatred. It also kinda shows you may not watch as many raptors games and may be a casual. Because anyone who watches enough raptors games would not watch our team defense and single out siakam when all our guys have major deficiencies just like pascal. Its just hatred at this point. You wanna complain about individual defense, give a proper and right assessment of our players not singe out one because of your hatred for him. Like its not rocket science that you're not a fan of siakam and this much complaining about him shows you watch him just to point out the negatives cause siakam is by far not our worst defender and is ACTUALLY one of our best team help defender. All our guys get blown by. I think you legit need some help man like mentally cause I see the same thing you see but I also see it with our other players as much if not more and I don't go around singling out our 6'10 best player who by the way is technically supposed to be the least mobile and worst defender on the perimeter being the tallest guy last year… Like I really think hes taller than khem birch and never would you feel comfortable having khem birch out there in the perimeter for even merely 2 seconds… But you probably cant grasp that concept, can you?? You're too full of hate and ready to blame siakam for everything… Also please stop using a 10 game sample of before siakam returned as an argument base… Many factors play into games such as opponents, roster refining with major player return(siakam)….. Etc… Not easy to just say 1 player is causing this or that cause as you clearly saw WE WON MUCH MUCH MORE WITH SIAKAM AFTER REFINING ROSTER…..
Thank god your opinion actually means nothing in actuality because siakam can most definitely be the best player on a team all the way to the championship regardless of your opinion that he can't which you keep trying to state as a fact……
its simple he was held out in training camp and its pre season he isnt getting full minutes to gain momentum nothing to worry about
You don't show your hand in Preseason. The Raptors play even got fans tricked 😉
You've articulated nicely what my eyes witnessed. I think you are right on on Justin Champagne. But overall there is a tension in how to handicap this team implicit in your analysis; on one-hand continued flawed guard play and unclear future growth for Siakam and Anunoby, balanced against continued development of Scotty Barnes, Precious Achiuwa & Delano Banton, the presence of a young Koloko and increased bench-depth on the other. Does that lead to 4 more wins as you suggest in a stronger Eastern conference? I will watch with interest!
Haha. U were definately a debby downer in this video. And that's cool. Everyone has their ups and down. Including content providers. it's amusing to hear the negative take too some times.
Personally, if I was management and the main players, , I would be all about winning in the playoffs, the preseason would be more about, assessing the guys that have to make the roster and avoiding injuries. Some times us fans have to be less selfish. U must Win win win. Every preseason game. Place first in the season. Bla bla bla. 🙂
The raptors drastically exceeded my expectations for entertainment last year. Sometimes that's good enough. What was it? Year one of the rebuild? but they Had raptors fans thinking for a moment, they could go much farther. Didnt they?
You remember a few months back, they actually ended up chosing the rookie of the year? And you are concerned that scottie, isnt showing well in the preseason?
Remember they turned a potential crisis into opportunity and landed precious?
Chris. Remeber chris – rose from the ashes, after pure abuse?
OG jumped a notch with his physical shot creation, even thow the refs made sure to take it away from him in the first couple games of the philly series. I love that OG goes in hard. No different than Embid bodying/intimidating guys, our team desperately needs that. Without OG doing that whi else on the raptors can? He should be maxing out his fouls to make sure teams feel our presence.
Gary. some of the opinionaters and commentators, forget about being against Gary's no fear approach to shot taking, then after a handful of 40 point games, even the commentators had to change their doubtful language. It was difficult for them.
Thad. People were down on thad for what ever reason, at first. Ageism maybe? Lol
I saw thad come in, when we were down, in points and help us rise back out, of the abyss, time after time. And I heard players say he was a plus for them.
Fred. I saw an injured fred give it everything he had till the end. And they were chanting freddy alstar werent they. Game after game.
For me Pascal became a complete player last year. He draws the defense in and dishes. unselfish. Check. Has a top 10 three pointer from various positions on the floor. Space creator. check.
Can attack the basket, both ways now depending on what is given to him. check. What more can we expect? No hes not big as embid. but embid didnt get past the first round right?
Now, collectively, the raptors tore embid a new ass whole, last year. Am I wrong?
Anyway, u seem exhausted. If u need a pickup check out the morning show that Alexey Ots puts out on the daily. He and those fans as a collective, know what time it is. Alex is like a raptors savant. No script. He just responds to his viewers comments in real time. And hes like, the real fun guy. Anyway. Tomorrows another day.
Going after the broadcast is how you can tell that Robert is really a fan with good insights and analysis, and not one of these "media pundits" who works for Yahoo or the True Hoop Network. Enjoy your stuff as always, I think your channel is really going to takeoff over the course of the season.
Savanna is a good TV personality, Alvin… not so much. But not a fan of Alvin as a player? He played his heart out for the team. Played on one leg.
I think your analytical mind is getting the best of you dude. Psychological insights into the minds of the players as well.
This reminded me of driving with my mother-in-law in the backseat giving directions. lol!
Strategy guys strategy we are not supposed to preform our best during preseason except for the guys fighting for a job we are not supposed to be guarding I hope the last game against the Boston Celtics we lose again why? Because we don’t want the cavaliers to pick up anything in which where the real season start!!!!!! These guys circle ⭕️ the 19 of October that is their focus everything start at zero
Scottie Barnes will be an all star this season even mentioned in MVP we always put Luka in that conversation that never won a playoff season
Our guys should be attacking the mid post but they also need to have a better internal clock so that we aren't trying to camp out for 4-6 seconds in the lane THEN wander off into a corner. Gotta duck in, post up ON a defender, then move with purpose to the next action aka a screen/pick or through the lane to opposite corner forcing our perimeter to rotate away from the incoming teammate
Robert my man, I have a few thoughts. With respect to Siakam, you are being over-critical in my opinion. His defense is better than you are implying. The reality is that team defense improved drastically in the 2nd half of the year. Some of the issues you spoke of were less Pascal not being where he should have been. It’s more that he was covering for someone else who may have not been where they were supposed to be. That put him a step or two behind on the next switch. If you look at the games post all-star break, the team defense was ticking and Pascal was a major part of that.
On offense, his lack of confidence in his three point shot can explain 80% of what you are talking about. If his 3-point shot is even marginally better with more takes, that will make his presence inside more dominant. With a better 3-point shot, his assist total will also go up as he will get more attention when he drives to the basket.
I am willing to bet that if he marginally improves his 3point shot in both attempts and makes , that will translate into Pascal being a top 15-20 player in the league.
With respect to Koloko, his talent is overall not raw. I think when you assess anyone’s talent, there are 3 aspects. The first is natural/gifted athleticism. I believe that given Koloko’s size he has way above average athleticism. He is gifted. For how relatively little basketball he has played in his life, his overall skill level is remarkable. The second aspect to talent is instincts. This is also an area where I think Koloko excels, again given his lack of basketball minutes. Instincts can improve with more real gameplay minutes. It’s less about practice reps. More about real game time play. I believe that not only does Koloko have good basketball instincts, there is real upside here with more game play. The last thing that goes into talent is reps. As you said, best way to improve your shot is to practice taking shots while being coached on technique etc.. This is where Koloko’s talent can be viewed as raw. He has the athleticism and the instincts. His instincts will improve the more he plays. The rest of his basketball skill set will come with more practice. I believe he is the real deal.
I'd echo the comments how it'd be more engaging and complete the video with a constructive critique. Eg, how you suggest Fred can still gain advantage shooting off ball. Pascal is the best we got and Raps will need to lean on him for O & D.
Fingers crossed as season progresses, we will see footage of the team trying new things. A Scottie/Pascal pick n roll/pop would be so amazing if it worked.
I'd like to forget about the bubble, injury woes and see what a healthy Raps team with good chemistry can do.
I thought it was just me who couldn't stand listening to Alvin.
I agree with you about Justin. Hope he gets a spot and some minutes. He could be another energy guy who sparks the team and does most things very well. O.G. is stiff and needs to gain flow with sharp body control. Better balance would really help his leans save some inertial quickness. You can call it smooth, agile, swift and confident