Time might be up on the Toronto Raptors season after yesterday’s loss to the Milwaukee Bucks showcased just how bad this team is. They started the game 2/23 and 4/36 from the field and looked relatively pathetic all over the floor and not for the first time this season. The team is being put out there and showing no identity, it once was a team who thrived on the defense-first mentality and now it really thrives on nothing. It is a sharp change from last season’s 48 wins as the team is now 16-22 on the season. With so much of a downward spiral, fans are looking for something or someone to blame for the inability to find success.
There are a whole host of reasons why the Raptors have struggled so much and it is strange given the top-heavy talent this team has with the likes of Pascal Siakam and Scottie Barnes. How can a team with so much promise miss the mark so sensationally? Masai Ujiri, Nick Nurse and players like Fred VanVleet have some answering to do.
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0:00 – Overview
1:02 – Another bad loss to the Bukcs..
2:07 – Reasons for disappointment
3:06 – Managing your frustrations
3:55 – Who is to blame for the Raptors’ struggles
5:08 – The identity crisis
5:43 – The front office
7:18 – The coaching
8:44 – The players
10:36 – The next steps
This is Amateur Hour Sports. On this channel, Jacob Gramegna analyzes and breaks down the latest on the Toronto Raptors NBA team from trade rumors to post-game reactions, analysis and much more. By subscribing to this channel you will be there first to watch and enjoy 3-4 videos a week all focused on this team and on game days Jacob goes live on the channel for a watch party where he interacts with chat, answers your questions and analyses the game as it happens with play by play and commentary. Join the Amateur Hour Army today by subscribing and consider becoming a member to give the extra support to the channel and help create better content more often.
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30 Comments
This team needs changes from the TOP to The Bottom Fred needs to go 100%
Well Masai hasn’t signed any good players since Kawhi left but Vanvleet should step it up a little.
One of the many problems, you accidentally mentioned it….when he feels like it!
I blame the FO because they didn’t upgrade our roster that much compared to last season…we need to trade FVV for much needed depth and shooting
First one to blame Nick nurse for playing favoritism second to blame Fred Van vleet and third to blame Pascal siakam and if they don't get it straight Maasai will be the fourth to blame cuz you can't believe in these guys they're not good enough anybody who knows basketball knows that these guys are not good enough and the whole media the people that speak for the Raptors are telling lies to the fans that don't know nothing about basketball and they're gullible enough to believe it
The issues of this team are structural and fundamental. It starts with the FO on to the coach and the players. If I had to pick a hierarchy of blame, I'd put FO as the most responsible, followed by Nurse and then followed by Fred. The FO hasn't signed a C going on the 3rd year, even though they won the chip with 2 good C. Then we have poor PG play, even though when we won the chip, we had the GROAT – the best PG/player in Raptor history. They annointed Fred as the PG of the future even though he never showed the PG skills (he is an undersized SG) or leadership sensibilities that Kyle displayed in his time here. They symbolically anointed him as the leader prematurely by announcing his name last in the starting lineup – an honor that belonged to Lowry, which Lowry ironically didn't have when Demar was here nor did Lowry have it during Kawhi's lone season. They haven't developed a bench even though the bench mob of yesteryear was crucial for this team to win the chip either directly or indirectly as some of them were used to bring in Gasol. In a way, even the worst instincts of Fred were enabled by FO, and the coach who was supposed to be an offensive genius originally on his hire failed to develop an offense and this failure collapsed/devolved the offense into a freewheeling offense that engendered more isolations and hero ball which either suited Fred so Fred could play Fred ball, or played up the Darkside of Fred's bet on yourself instincts.
I bet if FVV is asked to sit on bench and SB is allowed to be the PG, we will start winning games.
I disagree nick nurse is not a good coach he doesnt utilize his bench. He over works the starters. A good coach would be someone that can make the defense and offense situations. A coach should be using both starters and bench players. All Ive seen is a coach complaining to the refs. Sorry if you have to look at good coaches look at greg popavitch rick carlisle great coaches they know how its done.
Tank tank tank
#tankforwembanyama
Fred just need to go, so much drama , so much ego… I'm sick of him, this man wants every offense should run thought him, but he sucks. therefore ruinning og, scottie others roles.
Goodbye to Fred at the right price and definitely goodbye to nick nurse
The 6'9" vision can work if you have exceptional shooting and playmaking capabilities as well as constant ball and player movement. This team simply doesn't have the personnel to sustain that type of play. They're "top heavy" and they need to make a decision on moving one or two of those guys for much needed size, shooting and bench depth. Me personally I would be most pressed to move Van Vleet. He's on an expiring contract and his game has hit it's peak. He's not a great playmaker or ball handler nor does he have the ability to make open shots consistently. He also has a tendency of taking bad shots and him initiating offense in crucial down to the wire situations is something to be desired. Nothing good ever comes out of it. He's too small and doesn't have the craftiness to create a quality shot. I wish coach would let Scottie, GTJ, OG take the last shot sometimes instead of Pascal and Fred all the damn time. They're not "those guys"! Sure FVV made an all star appearance last season but he is far from an all star. Scottie running the point is a thing of beauty and I sincerely hope NN sees that. He can force turnovers and dictate the pace, has court vision, he can pass, has size, and shows glimpses of aggresiveness on offense. With Fred gone Scottie will have more of an opportunity to shine. There's still a lot of room for growth but he just needs to be consistent with the skills he currently possesses as well as being engaged each moment on the floor.
REASON = no clutch shooter …paskal chokes under pressure … no real GO TO … they do not attack the hoop … and terrible boxing out on defence or INTELLIGENT playing
Rest of the East got better so even 45 wins would have been a little enhancement. Playoff run would have been the difference.
15 guys on roster. You can have 10 6’ 8” players all your Sg-PF Those other 5 should be proper PGs and Cs both sides of the ball these are special types. 6 of the last 12 MVPs have been not fit team 6’ 9” so should we not want those type of players?
Maybe the offense should run through Fred because we always get buckets when he runs the offense because vs Knicks Fred ran the offense Pascal got 52 points and he got 28 even tho Scottie got 0 he knows his role now which is running in the paint and getting dunks layups and hook shotsand even though Gary Trent Jr is a shot creator Fred and just pass to him Gary can still create his own shot. For OG he’s a catch and shooter and when he’s hot he can create his own shots, he can also drive in the paint so he only needs the ball which Fred can just pass to him. So my point is that when Fred plays off ball he’s horrible but when he creates the offense we get BUCKETS.
1. Management at the end of the summer league made decisions on the team personnel, primarily player backup roles. So the Jr's have not stepped up enough. Everyone was hoping for another Scottie. Then Masai wants some Canadian presence: Birch, Delano, Boucher.
2. Nurse want ready made top class players like those from '19. We cannot afford those. So we pick main pieces. Offer them major contracts, then spilt the difference. In most instances, trading away talented or progressive developing talent. Our bench has consistently under performed, not new. Traded Powell, Ibaka, Poetel, De Rozan, Lowry, Watanabe. Players who have gone on to do well whilst the Raps have struggled to replace them. Main reason $$$$. Consequently with a weakened bench with low confidence/scoring/time development opportunity, NN plays his starters for almost full game minutes to try and be competitive to win games.
3. 69 style, long arms, 2 way offense/defense, pressing, multiple opposing player coverage, spread the court, shoot 3's, no big center. High energy, wear the opposition down. Turnovers, quick breaks. Inherent weakness: unmarked players can burn you, player buy-in, injuries, player capabilities. Bigs hurt us. Quick cutting guards and small forwards create havoc. Ananouby can be a great dual player but it restricts his scoring. Trent prefers more offensive responsibilities. Siakam is making up for last year. Freddie wants to be like Lowry. Scottie who flourished last year is struggling with his identity and changing expectations. Ananouby and Scottie had issues as a point guard. Moving Trent to second line improved bench production but first line and overall team scoring dipped. Boucher had under performed. Flynn with increased minutes is struggling. Banton cannot hide the cracks: quick break, cutter, energy, getting to the paint and rim. Insufficient production from Hernangomez. Currently Precious is better defensively. Koloko is a massive development project, not going at a Scottie wonder year.
4. Rotating injuries and illness are keeping key players out: Porter Jr, Precious, Van Vleet, Scottie, Birch, Trent. Also affecting performances if playing injured. Hand, finger, toe, hip, knee, calf thigh, back, waist, who knows.
5. NN does not have too many viable options. Some experiments and player(s) benching or discipline has not brought consistent improvements. On a perfect night, a very competitive team that has shown they are capable of beating the best. Or provide thrilling entertainment.
6. Quagmire: Insufficient team production. What tricks to grease a squeaky wheel before February? Time, player recovery, confidence, role play, leadership issues, pecking order, ????. 3 pt scoring has dried up. Which was supposec to be a huge part of opening up the game and opportunities.
7. Rumors, innuendo, trades, dressing room "toxicity", best 5, starting 5, designated point guard, big center, player development, bench production, designated go to game changer, "sacrificial goal scorers"
We need two good bigs Koloko and someone else to go along with that 6'9" vision. As well as shooting relying on the current roster to improve and going out and getting cheap guys hoping they will provide that shooting obviously has not worked. The Raptors are in a bind because they have no assets to trade to bring back some game changing talent other then GTJ and maybe FVV but his value is somewhat diminished at the moment. Trying to win at the same time trying to develop players is tough as well but is the Raptors world when you can't free gents to come to Toronto even when you over pay. Otto Porter has been a disaster and should be ashamed to collect his pay check ! I agree as well that Fred hasn't accepted his reduced role well and that could affecting his performance as well as his health.
There are so many positives that doesn't get mentioned often:
# 1 – Fred declined summer contract and was set to get the 4/114 million dollar contract this upcoming summer and that would've been one of the worst contracts in franchise history and we completely avoided that. He was a great story for us but there's a natural decline that comes with it.
# 2 – The east is so deep and the 2023 draft is deep and the draft will only assist us even more for this year so we get closer and closer to building a formidable team especially a center , three point shooting , a bench!
# 3 – We could potentially win the next six games and showcase players like GTJ , FVV , Malachi Flynn and increase their values pre trade season!
I agree Masai and Bobby have to shoulder much of the blame and should get their act together ! Look at how many players that they have moved on that are doing well with other teams . How can that happen so often? What does that say about the Raptor's process. Masai needs to pull a rabbit out of the hat. NN is hard to figure out. He can't keep playing his top group for so many minutes. It is not a sustainable situation.
can't wait to see the trade deadline to see what the front office will do, personnaly, I prefer a lottery pick rather a playoff run this year.
I feel like Scottie has to be the main guy.
Pascal has to be 2nd option.
OG/Gary – 3a/3b option
Fred, off the bench.
Whose fault is it when every player is not hitting open shots? People have been on the team about a low 3 point average but you can also look at a history this season of missing too many free throws. Is that on the coach? Is that on management? Yes, they have poor shot selection at times by playing too much iso ball. They are better when they move and share the ball, but they are still missing open shots. This includes shots at the rim.
I think you are absolutely correct but I truly believe that the shooting slump that our team is in has something to do with those screens that were installed at the OVO Centre!!! Ever since those were installed (mid November) our entire team is off their shots! What do you think?
Just fire the coach like we did to Dwayne Casey when he could no longer coach; and guess what happened? We won the chip. 😊😊
You can not trade away the entire players but you can get rid of one guy , NN. The team need a good scheme and new voice
Thanks
Trade for zubac us clippers fans don’t want him
Knicks trade RJ Barnett whoever they selected first in 2021 and a first rounder 23
Raptors trade OG
I wonder if this is fair both sides
Raps trade OG
Knicks trade Barnett Dieng and first 23
I wonder if that’s fair both sides
The front office, coaches and players are all at fault. The front office never adds good players or improve the roster since 2020. The coaches does the same thing every season. The coaches are getting outcoached and outplayed by other coaches from opposing team. The current roster is too inconsistent because they lack talent or depth. It is time for a new head coach and bring his assistant coaches with him. They all have to go. They never develop the bench. The Raptors just keep losing because they play poorly when comes to guarding the perimeter, they give up too many rebounds and they continue to shoot poorly from the perimeter. They will not win any games because the team is not talented enough and that is why they are too inconsistent in many aspects of the game. Also, with no depth, I do not see this team climbing to 5th seed like last season or even 4th seed which is a safer spot if they want to advance in the second round of the playoffs. The way the team is constructed they are not making the playoffs. Watching them play every game and continue to struggle is not fun to watch. It is a bad season and this team is going nowhere. Such an ugly and rough season.