The Toronto Raptors locker room was certainly disjointed last season but after a recent report it seems like things were much worse than we thought.
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50 Comments
Let's be honest, nurse is a helluva coach, the adjustments and caliber of coach he was is undeniable. But he isn't well equipped enough to know how to deal with men that have disagreements with eachother. He would do well with a team that has synergy and don't blame each other as much. It's more about how to improve the next play rather than to cheese the team into thinking they're trash, a leadership quality Nick relied on with Fred and spicy p
And Houston got FVV to mentor their young players 😂😂
This article is noteworthy! Straight from Masai's Mouthing piece himself! Lol
But srsly. Not letting nn off the hook cuz that's the coaches job but there was a reason he told Masai: "Good luck with These Guys…"
Tbh.i think the drama started around when FvV stopped trying to facilitate and started hucking. And when Pascal went down in Dallas I'm sure there was a lot of rumbling as to who should get fed now. Anyways…
Still a team game. Check the egos at the door and present the best version of yourself and pull up the next guy. Rather than the "next man up" toxicity that I believe ultimately are at the core of the team. Vision 6"9' didn't help by making that a standard and expectation of play but it's a new year. New type of coaching. Learn, retrain, focus, execute.
It's Scotties team to lead this year. Unleash the BE4ST!!
…Aaaanyways Mixtape Ben non stop energizer Bunny! Mans gone nuclear with the updates!
The Thing With Fred Vanvleet Has Always Been Selfish Just Thinks Blame Everything On Young Guys
Explains why harden wants out of Philly.. perhaps embiid, too.
Who is FVV? Oh the bum who got overpaid by Houston. Fvv and Ben Simmonds going to be the best duo of all time.
How the hell did Pascal and Fred feel frustrated. The younger players got hardly any playing time. Fred and Pascal were on 40 plus minutes every game.
Not everyone veteran player is leader material. Perhaps there was a communication delivery “technique” issue on this team. There is no ME in TEAM. Longevity is not an indicator of ability.
Yes yes yes Ben. Nurse ruined this team with the double standard approach. Got sick of watching FVV on the floor so much even when he was turning over the ball and missing three after three and foolish layups.
This whole episode with Fred leaving is looking better and better. IMO NN was putting all his chips in with Fred but playing him all the mins in order to win and look better instread of giving enough time to others may not have been the best look for him.
NN really bungled the bag in terms of developing Flynn, Banton and even Dowtin. Sure we can blame the players all day long but the buck stops with the coach. The roster was decent even if shooting was lacking. At the end of the day NN is no Casey. I always felt bad about that but who knows what would have happened if Casey stayed. Maybe no chip???
It was kinda obvious there were greater issues than roster construction. Even recalling the Dragic situation, there was this same leadership drama. Ben, you should do a deep dive into the Dragic saga, I think with hindsite, itll be a decent video.
Fred's energy wasnt gonna mesh because he's always posturing.
"WhO Are WE gOinG tO rePlacE FVv wItH?!"
I cant believe people thought it was a choice to keep Fred. Dude was gonna walk and take the money because before his previous contract, he almost did the same until Masai promised him playing time.
Anywho, im glad the truth is coming out. Robert @ Pensare was right.
Fred was the most overrated player in the league. He got an ego thinking he could take whatever shots he wants which pissed off the younger guys. Let’s be honest Fred was a terrible “leader” because he won a chip as the 5th best player. Thank god fans turned on him because I guarantee he would still be here if not.
There's only 1 Ronaldo
Fred will say he’s here to provide leadership to Houston fans 1st then when he and the team struggles he won’t say the word leader then blame everyone else. Lol
Casual/low iq fans are taking Fred’s side on this matter, Fred was great for Pre 2022 when he played his role same way Nurse was great when he had the players who fit the way he wanted to play. Can’t have Fred and Siakam iso ball and expect to win especially when the spacing was off and inconsistent this year.
Fred and Siakam got upset that the young core wouldn’t play along with their stat padding.
Expect a lot less W's next year.
Love Fred but Fred shot 39% from the field and had the worst defensive rating of his career this year so he should’ve probably been worrying about his game instead of the young fellas. Congrats on the bag tho 🎉
Nurse had lowry. Then he had fred. Under lowry everyone was more or less in line. Under Fred in a contract year…betting on himself turned off the young guys. You cant have your leader playing like 💩 and deflecting the blame to everyone else. Enough said.
To win a championship as a team you have to have availability. TO was one of the top teams in man games missed.
Ben stop making excuses for Pascal, he was equally as much of a problem as Fred, maybe even more because he took shots when he was double teamed lol. Nothing will change until he is shipped out!!!
Shoutout to Pensare Basketball calling this out since the start! 🫡
Pascal and Fred had to act like the coach because Nurse wasn't.
Aye Yeo Ben respects for the updates
Fred will do good, I like a team that likes him and Fred has a ring just like Kyle…a championship is hard to come by. Nurse I am going to miss…Good luck to my Raptors. Get the strength done on our center players.
So he couldn't lead a group of young guys here. How the hell is he going to manage that hot mess in Houston lmfao. He will be done after his second year. houston will ditch him and he'll be wishing he was still on the raptors. Have fun Freddy lol
This is just my take, and who knows how off I am here, but I really believe one of the contributing reasons there was so much issue with Pascal, Fred, and our young guys is the fact that Pascal was a late draft, and VV undrafted.
They probably felt the rookies had a sense of entitlement coming in (Scottie especially, being a high draft pick) and that they didn't earn their minutes. Remember that Fred, Pascal, even Poetl all started as the bench mob for the Raptors and worked their way up and into the starting rotation.
I can see how they might feel resentful of the young guys expecting more touches (even OG has wanted this for a long time) without, in their mind, 'earning it'.
But from the other side, imagine thinking/knowing you can be better than both these guys, yet you have to watch them take all the touches and shots. Especially when it seems to you, that they're missing winning plays you can make.
Now imagine all the scenarios and things that were said between the two groups, that kind of stuff can really affect on court chemistry, especially if there isn't a strong coach voice to step in and take control of the situation.
I think Darko is going to be a huge culture shifter, hopefully he can get everyone to buy in and we can make everyone happy. Otherwise it might be another year of underlying resentment, on court mediocrity and Masai being too meek to make the moves necessary to reset the roster/locker room.
The young players really didn't show much last season… can't say I blame fred for being frustrated
Fred is no leader, he threw everyone including Scottie under the bus to promote his own interests.
The fact he rather take more money to a crappy team over your family should tell you that he is only in it for the money. Plus 30 mil and 40 mil is not even a huge difference anyway.
Anyway, time for Scottie Barnes to rise up into a much better leader than FVV was.
scottie unfollowed fred 5/6 months ago . not after he signed to houston
Siakim is never going to all nba unless he's in the top 15.
All nba is now positionless
I've been calling out fvv since the bubble season. That toxic ego was shining bright. I'd see boy playing like shit but still had the nerve to yell or pass blame at the young guys
I said this all year when we everyone was all blue pilled on Scottie wanting the play with Fred. Everyone said no they love each other and blah blah Fred Love. Anyone who can read body language and sit a teenage mr could see Scottie did not want to play with Fred and their relationship was damaged. Siakam was more of an extension of this.
He will be traded to Hawks.
Fred was a terrible leader. I'm hoping it will be a case of addition by subtraction with him gone
This is easily the best raptors channel on the entire internet
The simple truth is that winning solves a lot of problems… strong egos are what makes these world class athletes so great anyways.
love steady freddy
The Raptors would have won 10 more games and been comfortably in the playoffs last year had Fat Freddy made shots in the last two minutes of games that he usually makes. Houston breaking the bank for a guy coming off a terrible year is hilarious 😆😂🤣.
But whose the source about siakam being unhappy ??? FV??
Dude was.bad in 2019sixers series glorified in the final 8 games of the run…bad in celtics series …bad in the sixers#2 series and bad in playin.
Stunted the growth of OG and Norm and TD2 and Trent and barnes and banton. And we lost dannyg ibaka gasol norm rhj td2.and anyone who followed
Cuz of him. might even lose siakam
Nurse is a terrible coach and could have been fired after his dreadful choices in the bubble exit to the Celtics. Where do we start? Poor starting lineups, overplaying the starters and not playing the bench especially in the occasional critical point in the game. How does one learn to play under pressure? Poor player development. Losing games in the 4th while never coming back to win any. At least be good at coaching defence or offence. Obviously even more is coming out. If you don't believe me watch how he destroys the sixers. Harden wants out before the season even starts. Embib will want out when the season ends. This team is not that bad without Nurse. Why not run it back with who's left to see what can be done. I bet they come between 3 and 5 in the division.
😢
After hearing this, I’m very ok with a Barnes Lillard trade
Stop digressing , and I will like and subscribe!!😅
Nurse is a great coach just lost his touch when they went out to Tampa and then that next season where nurse was just putting so much weight on the starters and created a culture that fester over to last season. A coach change is hopefully going to allow this team to hut the reset button and allow for the team to regroup
Let’s not forget there were times OG was open and FVV either passed to Pascal or took the shot. When Poeltl came FVV was passing it to him to up his stats. Gary and company got less touches. Heck, OG got more passes from Scottie when he was playing point. It was clear there was a set pecking order of who got the ball first. Hopefully Coach Darko will make sure that the ball movement is free and constantly sharing. The style of ball with FVV was too slow and stagnant.
Where all them raptors fan that wants a statue for Lowry and Kawhi? You want a Nurse Statue too? 🤣
NN gone! FVV gone! All the coaching staff gone! Next up Pascal then we good 🤝
We did not need an article from Grange to figure this out. You just had to look at the product on the floor.
Fred I’ll dribble for 20 secs and yeet a 3 was mad at the young players 😂 good riddance!
That’s what vets and winners do… they hold themselves and each other accountable….FVV and Siakam we’re doing their jobs….
Problem is they have several talented players who want more responsibility but there is only 1 ball….And the players talents don’t really mesh well or complement each other…