Zach Lowe and Tim Bontemps did a segment on the Raptors this week.
[http://www.espn.com/espnradio/play?id=35420476](http://www.espn.com/espnradio/play?id=35420476)
**High level summary:**
* They are equally surprised this team is where it is. Had pegged them as a top 6 pre-season, but agree something is just off with the team and they’re running out of time to make it work, despite belief that FO thought they had something here to make something real.
* The team should not be shooting as badly as they are. They aren’t BAD shooters they just can’t make shots. All just missing open shots they have previously made in their careers, shooting way below expected averages.
* Zach repeatedly says “something is just off”, and maybe it’s more off court but doesn’t really speculate what it could be.
* Is not concerned about Scottie’s work ethic. Says the article by Doug Smith ruffled some feathers and, although factually accurate, doesn’t mean anyone is worried about Scottie’s work ethic. Moreso maybe just points to a cultural riff between self-made blue collar Raptors and Scottie’s lottery pick, “golden child” status.
* They mention the lack of playmaking is maybe a bigger issue than the lack of shooting – all the Raptors are decent but need to dribble the ball and pass as an emergency valve or to beat a double team – don’t have many guys who just move the ball quickly, the team doesn’t have ball movement/flow to get them easy shots.
* Don’t believe blowing it up is as simple as you might think – the trades are not really out there easily for Pascal or Fred – believe OG would be the easiest to trade due to demand and contract.
* Believes Precious bouncing back is actually really important to this team if it’s going to stabalize in second half of the season.
* Zach believes Matt and Jack are one of the best announcer duos in the league and loves Jack.
* They need to win the upcoming games against the Hornets and Hawks if they’re going to turn it around, and are basically at decision point in next few weeks to think genuinely hard about a tank.
by lillithfair98
11 Comments
Thank you for doing the write up. I listened yesterday and what was interesting to me was the idea that a team of self-made bet on yourself type players are somewhat bitter that a high draft pick comes in and is touted as the saviour of the franchise.
But tbh that bitterness doesn’t show up in their play it seems
If our players are actually immature enough to be annoyed by a top-4 pick being on the team then please trade all these fools.
Thanks a lot for the summary.
I also thought precious back in the lineup is critical, he’s a great defender and hopefully getting his shooting back.
lol
We’ve got lots of guys who can dribble and pass but we lack a bonafide playmaker. That’s the single greatest need of this team currently.
The part about ball-movement really rings true. Our offensive schemes are severely lacking. Usually one guy pounding the rock while everyone else stands around.
Remember when OG used to baseline cut a couple times a game? No one moves but maybe that’s just not what our offence is geared toward. Watching other teams play makes this painfully apparent
Great points.
A huge part of our issues is FVV not being as good as he was last year. He’s not hitting shots from 3, which limits his driving options, and limits his playmaking. As a result he’s jacking up shots to get back into rhythm, half of our losses come from games where he’s shooting less than 30% from the field.
Defensively he’s been gambling a lot more than previous season where he was more fundamentally sound. He’s getting blown by at the point of attack more times than I’ve ever seen in his career, idk if that’s just mental collapses or due to injury.
As good as Pascal has been this season, he can’t seem to get on the same page as FVV. Whenever FVV has a good game, Pascal doesn’t. Whenever Pascal has a good game, FVV shoots bricks. This isn’t something that I’d expect to happen between them since they’ve been playing together for so long but this is something I noticed this season.
For example:
Fred had his best scoring games against the Kings at the Nets back in December, games where Pascal scored 19 on 7/19 and 17 on 7/15. The two games recently against the Bucks & Knicks Fred scored 28 each but Pascal struggled scoring 11 on 4/18 and 18 on 4/14.
Idk how I feel about putting my hopes on Precious lol but if we can get back 2022 2nd half Precious back that’ll be absolutely huge for this team. I like the idea of trading FVV and GTJ (if he doesn’t want to come back) for some depth pieces/youth and steal tank for the rest of the season like we did with Tampa, but I don’t know if Pascal is down for that lol.
Also don’t know how serious the Grizzlies are about contending this year, but if we can trade FVV for Tyus Jones + one of their young players I’d do that in an instant.
Did they not talk about the preposterous minutes the starters are getting?
He pinpoints a loss to the Kings as a turning point in his confidence in this Raptors squad. Kings were on the second game of b2b, we were coming off of two days of rest, and it was the start of a homestand for us. Losing that game even though we were leading for most of it was a bad sign because “good teams wouldn’t lose a game like that”
I really think this fanbase under appreciates what Marc meant to this team. There was so much lather about why he played so much evne thought he was scoring in the single digits and couldn’t/wouldn’t shoot the three – but the coaches would just point to the metrics and say the offence is WAY better with him on the floor.
He basically papered over every weakness the roster had on offence: ball movement, playmaking, unselfishness and quick decision making. While also serving as a true post defensive presence. He was the real key to this team’s championship identity, moreso than even Kawhi or at least equally so IMO.
Lowe made a comment about how FVV and Siakam worked their way up to their positions on the team despite not being lottery picks. Bontemps then alluded to some resentment being held by Fred by how often Fred refers to Scottie as the “golden child” who didn’t have to work for his minutes.
Idk how much of that is true but literally everyone on team has the emotional intelligence of an angel if they don’t genuinely don’t resent Scottie even just a little bit.
A crew of dudes, who might’ve been misfit toys in the hands of other teams, see a #4 pick come in and: get all the minutes he wants, freedom to experiment, get gassed up by repeatedly being referred to as the only “untouchable” player on roster (in regards to trades) despite not putting up superstar numbers.