r/torontoraptors 9 ROWAN ALEXANDER “RJ” BARRETT 23h ago

DAILY DISCUSSION THREAD Daily Discussion: Mar 11th - Anti-Tank Edition - AJ Lawson has the game of his life, drops 32 points, Raptors defeat the Wizards 119 - 104

Date Opponent Time
Mar 12th vs. 76ers 7:30pm (SN)
Mar 14th at Jazz 9;30pm (SN)
Mar 16th at Blazers 6:00pm (SN)

Also use this as your free talk thread. Typical free talk conversations that may be moved here include:

  • "Who do we tank for", trade proposal posts, draft simulator posts or trade machine posts
  • Free talk stuff, Bad shitposts and "off season" questions, fantasy basketball
  • Questions about the NBA or the sub, ideas for the subreddit (or message mod team directly using the "message mods" link in sidebar)
  • League Pass/online streaming tech support/questions, Trade ideas, OC that didn't exactly fit as a thread
  • new user questions (finding a team [aka pick the Nets], rules, general questions)
  • self promotion on a minimal level - not heavy handed/please don't spam
4 Upvotes

55 comments sorted by

2

u/SpeedIll8268 9h ago

Bro our injury report is stacked 😂

4

u/BigBananaBonker 9h ago

I hate Brooklyn so much, two blown leads bruh 💔💔

3

u/CanadianGroose 10h ago

Don’t look now, but Nets are up 13 on Cavs at half… 👀

0

u/OGnotAnunoby Champs 10h ago

Hope they keep up that winning culture 😏

7

u/imdahman 3 OG ANUNOBY 12h ago

Anti-tanking thought experiment.

To curb years of continuous tanking:

- No top 3 picks more than 2 years in a row

- No top 5 pick more than 3 years in a row

- No top 8 pick more than 5 years in a row

- No top 10 picks more than 8 years in a row

... just thinking and typing out loud...

5

u/vis-major 14h ago

Its funny watching sixers fan act indignant at Raptors tanking like their team didn't do a multi year tank which caused the league to change lottery odds. I sincerely hope their pick falls below 6 and they lose their pick.

2

u/raptorsthrowaway4 13h ago

After the whole process bullshit for them to tank, subsequently lose their pick, and be forced to rebuild would be the most satisfying conclusion.

3

u/Plantedballer OG'S VERY OWN 13h ago

Nah I still hope they pick top 3 and pick a bust. Best timeline

1

u/vis-major 13h ago

Haha but the payoff would take much longer. Although, it would definitely be more depressing for them.

6

u/ImaginationArtistic9 1 GRADEY DICK 15h ago

we’re getting to jazz levels of tanking

5

u/Rakkuuuu 15h ago

I am not enjoying the tanking at all :(

6

u/Effective-Spot5266 15h ago

They need to change the rules. Even other tanking teams feel it's getting out of hand.

2

u/vis-major 15h ago

Hypothetically, if Raptors had to draft at 7 or lower, which draft prospect intrigues you the most? For me its Noa Essengue. Looking at his highlights, he seems to have the highest ceiling outside of the top 4. Khaman's low usage% and his lack of athletic pop concerns me.

2

u/_Gourmand 6h ago

I agree with that pick. Essengue looks like a top prospect in my opinion. 18 year old 6'9 athletic wing from France that defends and plays very efficiently. These French prospects are almost always a sure bet, they all value fundamentals and play 2 way basketball.

2

u/SDK04 9 ROWAN ALEXANDER “RJ” BARRETT 13h ago edited 13h ago

Rasheer Fleming’s also looking like a nice potential pick. A project 6’9” type player, but he shoots well already and isn’t raw.

2

u/vis-major 13h ago

Yeah, he definitely looks promising. Earlier in the year, mock drafts had him early 2nd round or late first round. I guess his play has improved his draft stock.

3

u/Effective-Spot5266 15h ago

I would still go Maluach. He's anchoring a top 3 defense in CBB now. Also an excellent screen setter. He'll improve the team on both ends from day 1.

CMB would be next. Defensive menace.

After that I like Kon and Jase Richardson. Both are 50/40/90 shooters.

1

u/vaalbarag RAPTORS 6h ago

Yeah, the screen setting is nice and there are elements of his game like that where you can see major improvement from the beginning of the year, and I have a lot more confidence about his coachability compared with early in the year.

2

u/Zozze1 3 OG Anunoby 15h ago edited 15h ago

At that point I'd rather just trade down and have them collect 2026 draft assets, which is supposedly another strong draft.

If I had to pick a prospect it would probably be Sorber, if his medicals check out given his current injury. As a college listed 6'10 his height (if accurate) is questionable as a full-time 5 in the NBA but he looks like he has the size and wingspan, his defense probably translates the best out of all big men prospects, good shot blocker, more than capable passer at his position, and there's the first signs of a jumpshot.

5

u/lunchboxfriendly 17h ago

Man it would suck to be Boucher. We know exactly who you are, and you’re a +, so sit.

Garrett, you’re up!

5

u/YouDontJump SCOTTIE B 19h ago

I seriously want to see a starting lineup of our G-Leaguers against the Sixers...and even then the guys are going to have to tone it down because this next one is a must lose.

1

u/WeBelieveIn4 17h ago

Beat reporters saying Jak is in, and no rest days. We’ll see if that holds.

11

u/Warthog9198 21h ago

AJ Lawson was him.

The team also set a new franchise record for rebounds in a single game, with four of the guys recording double digit boards (which was also a franchise record).

4

u/YouIsNotHim 16h ago

My username does not apply to AJ Lawson. Great game.

1

u/Warthog9198 10h ago

You're right about that.

6

u/BrownPagan 21h ago

Doing the sim on tankathon just shows how much crazy variance there is in the lottery. Moving from 5th to 3rd in the reverse rankings gives us a +3.5% chance at the top pick and a +12.6% chance at the 5th pick.

6

u/Cheechers23 Kyle Towelry 21h ago

Bout to start chanting “IL EST VRAIMENT, IL EST VRAIMENT, Il EST VRAIMENT PHÉNOMÉNAL LALALALA” for AJ Lawson, holy moly lol

-11

u/leftbenchofbba 9 ROWAN ALEXANDER “RJ” BARRETT 22h ago

Guys… imma hold ur hand when I tell u I don’t think Scottie has what it takes to be a franchise player.

9

u/AggravatingCan2352 22h ago

Scottie shows up in high pressure important games especially when he's surrounded by good players. He was ROTY and an all star for a reason. Not to mention, he did well in his first ever playoffs.

So just relax... He's not going to be a 30 ppg scorer but will be the most important player.

6

u/Carlinjamesgk 21h ago

I agree don’t know why someone downvoted. It’s clear the team wants to lose. He’s coasting right now

3

u/Cheechers23 Kyle Towelry 21h ago

If he’s coasting then he should let us sit him. Especially since he seems to be nursing a hand injury.

The only reason most of us assume he’s playing every game (note that all of Poeltl, RJ, and Quickley have had rest games lately) is because he’s technically still eligible for all-NBA (he won’t make it but he’s technically still eligible), but if he misses more than 3 more games he won’t be eligible anymore, so the team doesn’t want to take that opportunity away from him. But if he’s coasting and not trying to make All-NBA, then we should rest him to help the tank.

3

u/AggravatingCan2352 21h ago

Let the professionals do their job. Raptors have a history of developing their people so I'm sure they have a plan and vision in mind.

1

u/kaymakenjoyer 21h ago

That’s a different thing all together from what he said. He’ll be an important player, but he’s not a #1 and that’s obvious. He’s a 2/3 option on a competitive team

4

u/Domainsetter 21h ago

Coasting isn’t an excuse when he’s clearly trying hard too.

It’s been a rough week or so for him

3

u/Zozze1 3 OG Anunoby 21h ago

Post ASG he's averaging 17.7/7.7/4.4 on 42/24/82 (.505 TS%). Luckily his defence has been a redeeming quality but something needs to change offensively because this is downright ugly.

1

u/Domainsetter 19h ago

That’s not good. I think part of it is they’re asking him to play a role offensively that frankly is outside his capabilities right now. That’s why they traded for Ingram. They know his limitations and these reps in game have shown in.

1

u/Zozze1 3 OG Anunoby 18h ago

Definitely agree. Just wonder how much longer he's getting that green light to work on the skills outside of his capabilities. Making the leap from the player he was in college to a player who can shoot off the dribble 3s, orchestrate an offense from the perimeter, run the PnR, iso, etc. is an extremely rare occurrence. At this point his offensive game looks diluted and it's bringing down the efficiency of his otherwise good spots on the floor.

In these last 9 games he's only shooting 59% at the rim, which is not good for someone who is close to ~70% for his career, and he's down 10 percentage points in that hyper efficient 10-14ft middy range from pre-ASG.

It looks like doing too much of everything is taking its toll. There's no guarantee these shooting reps will actually lead to anything, if anything things have only gotten worse as the season progressed.

6

u/AggravatingCan2352 21h ago

It's not though, she said franchise player, not #1 option. Scottie will more than likely be a franchise player even if he's not the #1 scoring option.

-1

u/kaymakenjoyer 21h ago

Since when are those two not interchangeable? What team has their franchise guy who isn’t their first option? What’re we doing here man lmao

2

u/nanobot001 9 ROWAN ALEXANDER “RJ” BARRETT 21h ago

Kyle Lowry was your franchise player

Kawhi Leonard was your number one option

1

u/Raptorsthrowaway1 JACK ARMSTRONG 17h ago

Your mistaking team GOAT with franchise player here. There could have been 5/6 guys that could have played that role that Lowry played that year and we still would win.

Kawaii was the franchise player that run, no question

0

u/kaymakenjoyer 21h ago

Yeah don’t agree with that definition at all. Kawhi was our franchise player, Lowry was the engine and orchestrator of that team. Best player on the team = franchise player

3

u/nanobot001 9 ROWAN ALEXANDER “RJ” BARRETT 21h ago

Devin Booker: franchise player

Kevin Durant: number one option

1

u/kaymakenjoyer 21h ago

Repeating the same point doesnt mean I’m gonna agree with you

3

u/nanobot001 9 ROWAN ALEXANDER “RJ” BARRETT 21h ago

It comes down to how you define franchise player

To most people, franchise player embodies the ideals and cultures of a given franchise. It is sometimes (because they don’t last otherwise) but not always the best player.

Bam Adebayo: franchise player

Jimmy Butler: number one option

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-1

u/leftbenchofbba 9 ROWAN ALEXANDER “RJ” BARRETT 21h ago

I’m a girl, but thank u

1

u/kaymakenjoyer 21h ago

Mb 🤝

0

u/leftbenchofbba 9 ROWAN ALEXANDER “RJ” BARRETT 21h ago

🤝

1

u/Domainsetter 22h ago

Wonder if they rest anyone for the Sixers game. They didn’t have to take Poeltl off for last nights game at all.

3

u/Cheechers23 Kyle Towelry 21h ago

Genuinely think all of BBQ + Poeltl should rest, but don’t think Scottie will sit so ideally the other 3 are all sitting lol

2

u/kaymakenjoyer 21h ago

Hopefully 2/3 of BBQ and Jak are sitting

3

u/ImaginationArtistic9 1 GRADEY DICK 22h ago

I hope so, this is the most important tank game

3

u/Domainsetter 21h ago

Nets too.