Holy Crap!!! best video upload explaining the Raptors direction....total respect. The Raps are a team that's just waiting for a superstar (Kawhi like) to lead them to the promise land. Unfortunately the superstars don't want to come to Toronto but wait, what if OG is that superstar? What if OG takes that step to greatness. Barnes is just a rookie but looks a bit more advanced is some areas than when OG came into the league. I don't know when this will all come together for the Raps but they have the personal to become something special. Props on the upload.

I think the raptors chose Scottie Barnes over Jalen Suggs because they wanted to develop him into a super star small forward, like Kawhi, Jimmy Butler, Jayson Tatum, etc. If he can become a consistent jump shooter, he is going to be a star for sure.

It does logically make sense to focus on D. The most high percentage shots you can take are dunks or layups around the rim, easiest way to get there is fast break off a defensive turnover and the league standard for shooting is such is that you can pick up good enough 3 shooters for very little. So picking up a lot of players with big wingspans, intelligent passers and very young and committed with a great coach and GM to support it makes perfect sense to me May take awhile to take effect but if Moneyball is about buying runs in baseball in basketball it should be about buying stops. The overwhelming majority can shoot to a high enough level but picking up a lot of guys who can nullify star players is a smart thing to build a style of play around

Your analysis on opponents normally having open uncontested 3's with other teams only to face constantly contested three's and how demoralizing it can be is on point. Even when you mentioned how you might just convince yourself it's a one off or just a big team was tight. Imagine playing this team in a 7 game playoff series with a coach who can switch defensive schemes like Nick Nurse. I contend that Boston lost to the Heat because the Raptors defence exhausted Brown and Tatum. They were spectacular in that series against excellent one-on-one switchable defence. Tatum is on record when being asked who is the best one-on-one defender in the league that he doesn't look forward to, he said "Can I say a whole team? The Raptors." This is a rebuilding year and the Raptors are a strong second round playoff team.

I agree 100%

There’s something really incongruous here. Your “sky’s the limit” essay on the Raptors’ dazzling future is anchored by a Kawhi highlight reel!

As soon as you said they don’t need dragic I paused. Solid European veteran that can take over playoff games. He will be raptors fan favourite in a short time.

Well done. Well done indeed. You totally get it. And your Great Wall of China comparison is apt.

Big facts

I would say the raptors are the inverse of the prime small ball rockets.. rockets wanted small ball to shoot alot of 3s and have great spacing around harden. The raptors want to go small ball at center but big pretty much everywhere else. This instead of to make 3s like the rockets is designed to limit 3s and mid range jumpers threw elite athletism and wingspan.. as the rockets had the weakness of rebounding.. half court offense will be this team's weak spot. But all these fast big guys grabbing a rebound and running in transition should have a high octain transition offense. Might be a tricky little way to make a competitive team without haveing a go to super star in the half court like say a kawhi.. add one of them to a team built like this and you have a PROBLEM. But that's after we know what Scottie and OG are as more fledged out nba players.

2021 new bench mob

very well explained.. keep it up homie

i love your naration! really clear and captivating! Big respect nice content. Big respect

Hope we build a suffocating defence this year that will suck the air out of the opponents, especially playing at Scotia Bank Arena with the loudest crowd around the league..hope Dragic rethinks his stay in TO because we need consistent knock down shooters. Anyways, great content:)

Keep hearing about the Raptors' position-less basketball and all their players who are 6'9" with a wing span of over 7 feet but the guards they will have on the floor almost all the time this year are short players by NBA standards except possibly for Trent who still is not anywhere near 6'9. So sure they may have 6'9 forwards and centers and will have a bunch of 6'9 players who will see limited time like Watanabe or almost no time on the floor with the team or will be with the 905 team like Banton but given that they will still have fairly short guards they will still find themselves victimized by pick and rolls that lead to a short Toronto guard trying to block a shot from a very tall opposing player. It is true that opposition pick and rolls that create a situation in which an opposition guard ends up against Siakim, Anunoby or Barnes won't help the opposition given the speed of these Raptors players. Not sure how good Birch or Achiuwa are at defending a guard after a pick and roll. Boucher in his own way is an excellent defender who can quickly make a couple of big steps to defend a jump shot but not sure how well he does in stopping a fast guard driving for the basket. So I would say that the Raptors may be playing positionless basketball in a few years if they end up having tall, mobile guards like Banton and Barnes and if they get more tall, mobile forwards and centers as regular players but I don't think they are there now.

I hope they make Scottie the main PG if it doesnt pan out w FVV

Great video homie, just subbed.

U earned a sub I love my raptors 😂😂

Like the video. The one thing ppl shouldn't forget is Kawhi didn't exactly have the most spectacular stats coming out of San Diego States. His FT% 3PT% isn't awe-inspiring. But his built, the defence stood out. You do hope Rapts got someone like that in OG or Barnes in the long run. However, the one thing you can't deny is Kawhi is probably one of the few guys at his hand that also got huge hands. That makes a lot of difference what you can do with the ball do (similar to MJ at his height). I don't think OG or Pascal has that kind of hands

Thats a good mind set.. i like this toronto gm.

The Raptors aren't the only game in town though. Golden State for example has lots of wing span this year too.

It's about time to have taller backcourt guards. We are always outmatched on the backcourt. Now we can play Banton to replace Vandvleet or Flynn. Our second is younger and long. Watchout Lakers your team are old. NBA will be shock again!! Remember when Ujiri got Kawhi no one had a clue we will win all the way.

You just won my subscription and alert notification. Just became your fan.

if they can get a mobile big that can rim protector and defend in space then it can be a successful

they need a guard as tough as Lowry or holiday; in today's fast pace and long 3 dominated game, lower ground air force control is key.

Scottie Barnes is going to be a star it will take a couple years. But he is long, athletic, and he is intelligent when it comes to hoops.

If we do end up trading Dragic to Mavs, I hope we get Tyrell Terry in return.

For this to hold, the Raptors will need to get rid of the shorter guards. i.e. Fred and Malachi.

the raptors should use a center for 7 foot tall to against joel embiid he looks the biggest tall dude in this league if the raptors needs a center to battle against him out

Is there a mercy rule in the NBA?

It's amazing how we always hype ourselves at the beginning of every season, But what is more amazing is that we always tend to come out with these outrageous claims and treat them like facts lol, Raps fans need to relax a bit and stop setting themselves for disappointment, Masai said it best "There will be growing pains." and he knows better than any of us.

How come raptors fans can get excited about defence teams, but philly get mad when their defence specialist don't score enough???

I feel like were building depth for another superstar trade

Still not sure it made sense to trade Powell for Trent. Yes Trent will likely be as good and is younger and Raptors could have got lucky and had Hood work out. And Powell did tend to have injury problems. However, Powell was one of the best three point shooters in the NBA which helped to spread the floor and create more space for Siakim around the basket. Also, the Raptors are paying Trent basically the same thing Powell is going to get paid so having Trent instead of Powell isnt saving ang cap space plus Trent has a player option after only 2 years so even if he does become much better he could demand a much more expensive contract or be gone by the time the Raptors feel they can compete for a championship again. But most importantly I think that it isn't a good idea for teams, especially the Raptors, to trade popular long time team players who have been playing well for new players of approximately the same skill simply to make a trade. It's sometimes hard for the Raptors to attract players to come to Toronto to play so when they do have players like Ibaka and Powell who are playing well and are vsluable for the team and seem loyal to the team and are popular with fans I think the Raptors should keep them. Nothing against Trent but there is no guarantee that he will be as loyal to the team or as popular a player in Toronto as was Powell. Think too it's hard for fans to cheer for a team if the players on the team keep changing which has obviously been the case for the Raptors over the past three years. And take another look at the roster they had in 2017-18 before they started changing players so much. It was a really good roster that finished 2nd in the NBA in 2018 and a number of the players on that roster are much better now - Powell, VanVleet, Valencunis, Anunoby, even Derozan, maybe Poetl. Plus they picked up Boucher in the summer of 2018. If they had just kept that 2017-18 roster and still picked up Boucher in summer 2018 they would be competing for a championship now......and with LeBron out of the way might even have done miracles in 2019. With Derozan and Lowry playing VanVleet and Powell wouldn't even be starters now. Valencunis, who played so well over the past year, likely would be the backup center as Ibaka could start. Imagine VanVleet, Powell, Valencunis, Boucher and whoever else as the Raptors "bench" lineup for the upcoming season. Yes I know people will say they couldn't afford all these players now but I'm going to ignore the reality of cap space cause this is just an online post about a "fantasy lineup" that actually was a real lineup that was taken apart. And if people think Lowry would still have left... I don't think Lowry would have felt the need to leave an amazing lineup like this to pursue a championship, especially as his best friend would still be on the team. Some would say "But didn't fans cheer for Leonard when he helped bring a championship even when they knew he might be gone after one year and even though his coming meant Derozan was gone?". But Leonard brought an amazing tough, winning, high scoring, playoff attitude that Derozan, as talented as he is and as nice as he is, didn't seem to have. (though after the past 2 playoff seasons it's actually not as clear that Leonard has that winning playoff quality). In the case of Trent though I'm not sure the Raptors are getting anything they didn't already have in Powell.

why u gotta pause like that after “super long”

Gotta score 3's.

Season outcome prediction based on size and length is just not gonna cut it. The winning formula is definitely not based on how it looks on paper in building a big wall.

I just put down a bet that the raptors will win over 35.5 games, easiest money I'll ever make.

OG is not 6'8 i seen him in person he closer to 6'6 . bro you can see that Bron way taller than him

Come on my guy you do this content and can't say siakam name right!

but they cant score.

This is so overrated

This is laughable man come on..its not building a wall , its who is going to score the ball and the east is stacked , we not even making the playoff