The Raptors need to change their starting lineup
The Toronto Raptors starters are consistently blowing leads. The issues have led to excessive minutes of Barnes standing in the corner instead of working through the middle as a playmaker. Barrett has caught a rhythm lately but his fit is clunky. If the Raptors want to have a shot to save their season, a necessary shift is needed in that unit for the first time, where RJ Barrett moves to the bench in favor of Battle. Barrett would then be given more chances to score with a second unit more in need of his singular driving gravity, and the starting lineup would function with more space between Quickley and Battle.
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8 Comments
The solution is to start Ja'Kobe, in very limited minutes (75) IQ/JKW/Ingram/Scottie/Poeltl have a net rtg of 8.2. I'd bring RJ off the bench like yesterday
Great video topic Rob, awesome insight, it’s definitely worth moving RJ to bench, he can still get 30 if he wants to.
Always problems with players around Barnes! Get rid of the player (RJ)…LOL…I don't watch the Raptors anymore, but this is hilarious! I heard there is no chemistry on this team…very apparent in hearing about the other night, they don't rally around one another! Barnes and BI were no where to be found!
A few things… I want to see Scottie at the top corners of the key for rebounding, play making, pick & roll, screens for cutters, and a few last ditch effort 3s–essentially what Jokic does. I want to see our "bigs" at the dunker's spot for a lob, rebounding, or screen for a guy to sneak behind him for a 3. The rest either outside the 3pt line and focus on making open 3s or cutting to the basket on the weak side when they see someone getting double teamed on the strong side. Keep attacking their weakest defenders. I'd be willing to let everyone go other than Scottie, CMB, and Jakobe for people that can reliably and efficiently shoot 3s in volume. We've given these players enough chances to make their open 3pointers. Whatever "hard work" they are putting in…it's not working! Fire the shooting coaches?
So we are soft… Better to be soft than ejected for 7 games like Beef Stew. The Raptors can't afford to have a healthy premier player riding the bench because he wanted to "protect" Shead(who is underperforming). That player could possibly give up several hundreds of thousands $$$ for such an altercation. I don't care how much money you have, no punch is worth that much. If someone has to play the "protector" role, it better be one of our shittiest players that won't be missed. Dort & JWill were probably goading Jokic to throw a punch hoping he would have hit them to get him out of the game. (Neither one of them is worth a Jokic, so if both parties get ejected that gives the advantage to OKC–not that they need it.) Dillon the villain pulls that shit all the time against the best players of the league.
Not a fan of that dude's music or rap music in general. (50 cent and Eminem had a few good ones though.)
I'm in the bucket of don't care enough about Bam's 83pts to even talk about it. I barely care about Kobe's 81 because he hung it on the Raptors…but that's ancient history.
wish the staff would take advice and watch these to learn what’s happening
Don’t know if I’m being a delusional raptors fan, but I take solace in the fact that we have all of our picks and an expiring in RJ. There is at least a path to making this roster make some more sense and build some congruency. Another thing that gives me solace is Darko’s philosophy. For years, we complained that Nick Nurse didn’t give youngsters enough leeway to grow. I think Darko is doing opposite to a fault, but it means that the player can do better, he is just being played in a way that handicaps him now so that he might grow through it. I think of the billion midrange jumpshots that scottie took last year and how that has translated to his good midrange performance this year.
Great analysis on the roster, Rob. Concise and informative. I would love to see Battle recognized and used for what he can do, shoot 3's and space the floor. As a bonus he can cut to the basket, grab a rebound and defend as well or better than anyone on the starting lineup except Scottie. So put him out there, get him some shots and then keep him out there to space the floor. I am so tired of seeing Battle put out there for 5 min, getting the ball once, making the 3 and getting pulled. Then listening to everyone say the Raptors have no shooters. So, even though Darko will never do it, thanks for taking a serious look at it. Peace.
Forgot to say I like your bench lineup too, Rob. Would love to see Mamu and CMB play together. Should be a very complementary duo.