The Toronto Raptors showed out last night by beating the 5-2 San Antonio Spurs by a whopping 43 points on the back of another outstanding MVP level night from Pascal Siakam and largely due to more excellent play by reigning rookie of the year Scotti Barnes who has been playing at point guard in All-Star guard Fred VanVleet’s absence. The Raptors have looked great without VanVleet, winning yesterday and a few nights ago in another blowout after beating the Atlanta Hawks by 30 points. Raptors fans are really starting to ask the question of if the Raptors are really BETTER without Fred VanVleet?
In the playoffs last season they looked better when Fred got injured and they have been outstanding with Barnes running the offence in the past two games. In this video Jacob Gramegna on his main channel Amateur Hour Sports dives into the topic and breaks down how the Raptors can get the most out of ALL of their players and if trading Fred VanVleet is really the answer. One thing is for sure, Scottie Barnes is legit at point guard and it could be time for Nick Nurse and Masai Ujiri to make HUGE changes to Toronto and the organization.
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0:00 – Overview
0:59 – Back-to-Back BLOWOUTS
2:02 – Scottie Barnes the real PG?
3:18 – The offence is improving
4:07 – Better without Fred VanVleet?
5:12 – Fred’s shooting is elite
6:09 – The huge decision
7:08 – Why Scottie Barnes is the better PG
8:31 – When the Raptors are at their best
8:54 – What you’re not noticing..
See you again next time
#raptors #torontoraptors #NBA
27 Comments
I'm glad this isn't one of those hot take, knee-jerk reaction videos that throws Fred under the bus. He was selected by the coaches to the All-Star team last year for a reason, and while his shooting has been off to start the year, and the team seems to be gelling well with him on the sideline, I think his ability as a play facilitator are a needed aspect to the game that should not be discounted. Siakam is hurling the ball across the court or on kick-out plays to the arc, but Fred was averaging 7.7 assists per game prior to his injury this season too, so while the "jumbo" lineup looks formidable on defense, their offense relies more heavily on fast break points and isolation plays without Fred in there to move the ball in the half court. He's the game tempo controller, which is critical in those grinding games where their opponents have shut down their transition plays, or have been forcing them into turnovers, or out-rebounding them on the offensive glass. Saying he's washed up shows how inattentive and fickle the fans can be just because they have been rolling without him on the court. They were going at a blistering pace in San Antonio, but that mode of game play is neither sustainable or effective against better teams with disciplined, veteran defenders.
Fred needs to traded. He’s too small and screws up the offence. Trade him while he still has value.
i don’t think we should let one bad game decide vanvleet, let him have his space and hope he comes back better all we can do is support him
I may be wrong, but didn’t Pascal bring the ball up the court and initiate offence more often than Scottie last night?
The one aspect you didn't mention, which I believe means we are better off trading Fred, is salary. Of course we'd be better still having Fred on the roster, but are we prepared to pay him $30 million +? I think that answer is obvious.
I think we should trade for some bench depth, someone like Mike Conley who can be our vocal leader and he can playmake as well. I rlly want an elite veteran on our team. I think getting Conley would deadass make us contenders. We have the pics and we have Thads, Birch’s and Gorans mid level exception.
What’s up with y’all.?? U TRUE raps of fans forget what FVV did for us in the past ?? 2019 finals?? Wtf is wrong with u clowns. Even you “amateur hoops”??
“OG fans”
Don’t get me wrong about Fred. But I like how our starters line up without Fred, we are more bigger long size. With Scottie Barnes play as PG he dominated it. Which teams that have a players can play 5 positions??? I hope Fred sit out for a few more games ,n I think when Fred is playing he slow Raptors down. I totally agree with you about Fred more like a SG than PG. Scottie Barnes can be a good PG. Shout out to the a few fan about Trade OG . Y’all need to relax about our players. Like I said some times they have good game n bad game. You need to believe in them, yes I get mad n frustrated to watched the game where 76ers kicked our ass without Embiid but I don’t say trade the players…. Just have faith in our Raptors boys!!!! Next game against Dallas. This is gonna b a good game
Can we trade FVV, Achua and a bencher for Jacob Poeltl? Let's do it!!!
FVV is slow and disrupt the rhythm, trade him while still have some value
Ive been saying this! Fred should be getting buckets off the bench.
call me insane, but why cant fred lead the bench unit? be our russell westbrook.
This is so boneheaded, when the chips are down and we are in a fight over our head give me Fred. remember this is ahat they used to say about Kawi, the team is better with out him playing , bu comes play off time when the chips are down Kawii
I was really impressed with Pascal last night, it could have been a game where he got lost in the sauce and a few years ago he would have. Finished with like 14 4 2 has a fine night but nothing special, Chris OG Scottie and Gary were all cooking but he forced the issue got his because superstars eat every night
NN seems to like to play Pascal for the entire first quarter and sit him until the 6-8 minutes mark of the second, so having FVV off the bench and staggering the minutes a bit can help the team stabilize a bit when Pascal's off the floor
FVV dribbles TOO much. Dribbles in, then dribbles out, wasting too much time.
FVV been battling injuries since last season. Maybe it's time to consider load managing his playing time like they did with Kawhi if they want him healthy for the playoffs. That will give Barnes more time at pt.
Trade VanVleet for a 6'9" good player.
Starting to think so. I say let's have FVV sit out a few more and get a bit larger sample size.
I think it's crazy to say hes a 6th man its obvious in my opinion hes a undersized two take gary put him in as 6th man throw scottie at the 1 then u got fred at the 2 as a secondary playmaker but mainly just to hit catch and shoot 3s
Why not try freddy playing more offball style reminiscent to steph curry? I know its been brought up but it just never gets done. The Toronto Raptors are one of the worst teams when it comes to offball screens so if we do adopt for more of those styles we need to utilize more offball screens to get freddy open for the three. Just imagine Scottie at point diming it to freddy and knowing how deadly freddy is at threes players would more than likely gravitate to freddy leaving the offball screener like siakam/achiuwa with a drive to the basket or a kickout for a three to gary/og. That would be a fun experiment to me.
Could a FVV – Westbrook trade make sense?
Before y’all lose your shit, hear me out.
For the Lakers: LBJ has always needed the same supporting cast to win, a big that can gather rebounds and a PG that can shoot, I think most knew Westbrook didn’t fit that bill, FVV however is a different story.
For the Raptors: FVV is a home grown all star that sadly doesn’t seem to fit our current roster construction. By no means am I saying Westbrook would be a better option than FVV but if Fred isn’t shooting well, I’d argue westbrook fits our system better. He plays well in transition, he’s athletic and he could be the perfect guard to run the offensive when Scotties off the court. Obviously considering Westbrook’s contract, the incentive would be less about westbrook and more about future draft picks but I can see a trade that benefits both teams today and the Raptors long term.
Why can't we just be happy the team is winning
FVV would be a good 6th man
No question Barnes had a better offense in point guard
FVV too small and slow as PG
Liked 👍 Thanks
Great channel analysis