Down by 28 with two minutes to go. It seems like the one who jilted people here had a poor showing too. I harbor no ill will towards Irving though its undeniable that he is a difficult personality. However I will be very surprised if they don't start winning more games soon. Its still very, very early in the season.
Masai (and Toronto as a franchise) have a real knack for finding role players that can really contribute. They always find guys like Rondae Hollis-Jefferson who play really hard and know their role. RHJ is an interesting story; he came into the league as a raw athlete with the idea being he would develop into a wing. While he never quite developed the skills necessary to play as a wing, through his knowledge and length, he became an undersized post defender and a small-ball center.
Don’t particularly like that analogy, specifically with Baynes...
Can someone remind me why Baynes was traded? Did they really need to cut his salary to sign Kemba?
Yes. They had to clear that space to get Kemba.
Yeah, the unfortunate thing is that if he had been a free-agent, as opposed to opted in, they could have just renounced his rights, and then signed him with the room exception that was later used for Kanter. But with him under contract, the only way to clear room was to trade him, which precludes him from being traded back for unless/until he goes to a 3rd team.
He's arguably been aveage/slightly above average. His assist % is at 15.9% atm, his career it's 10.0%. All his other rate stats are basically the same or the sample sizes are too small this early on (blk%, stl%). He's been blocking a ton of shots in the early going too though.
Often these shot selection changes are effects, not causes. I had mostly ignored Wiggins/written him off, but I went and watched some of his recent highlights, and his handle is a lot better and a big reason he's getting to the basket more. It's similar to what we've seen with Jaylen this year.
I've never heard that he was going to decline. Everything I've read or heard was that he wanted to stay and was blindsided by the offer. Even in the lead-up to the game there the other day there were quotes saying he didn't really want to leave, that he had always assumed they were going to offer the max.
Twitter was alight last night with the list of players whom the Raptors have unearthed who were undrafted including VanVleet, Boucher and Terrence Davis and that list doesn't include Alfonzo McKinnnie who got run (admittedly mostly because of injuries) in last year's playoffs/finals. Furthermore, it doesn't count guys like Norman Powell or OG Anunoby who were acquired or drafted relatively low. The Raptors are simply elite at talent evaluation.
You beat the Lakeshow on a random Sunday in November and suddenly everyone notices you, I guess. IIRC that team was pretty good last season, too.
No it wasn't. Stop with this.the dog whistle shot at Baynes was loud and clear on that analogy
Instead of attacking me now maybe you should consider that using an offensive neo-Nazi character as an analogy for Aron Baynes (especially with his appearance) might not be appreciated.
Explain to me your exact logic as to how I did that.
if you want to PM me on this feel free
@BleacherReport
Its interesting - he is taking way more shots per game (20.8 vs a career average of just over 16) to start the season than in previous years and it looks like he is taking it to the rim & making it more than in previous years . He is also hitting his FTs at a bit of a better rate than the past two seasons so his TS% is up but his 3P% is down on increased 3PA as well. His rebounds per game are roughly in line with his career averages while he is logging almost one more assist per game. His defense remains pretty poor thus far.View: https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1194081048725819393
Bleacher Report
View: https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1194081048725819393
Andrew Wiggins' last 4 games:
30 PTS | 6 ASTS | 2 STLS
40 PTS | 5 REBS | 7 ASTS
25 PTS | 4 REBS | 5 ASTS
33 PTS | 6 REBS | 5 ASTS
Breakout year?
TimeLord was at 9.1 coming into tonight. Of course he's probably immortal.
I forget which thread I mentioned it in, but when I've watched him this year, his handle has improved a lot. That's by far the most important factor in an explosive wing taking a step forward, so I wouldn't be shocked if this is real. The amount he's getting to the rim also indicates that he's made some real skill improvements: NBA defenders do their damnedest to not let exactly that happen.
Love misses an open three in last few seconds.
He just missed a three with ~ 14 seconds left that would have given the Nets the lead. He didn't have to take that quick of a shot and Rudy Gobert was able to close out on his shot at the last second without falling and got enough hand in Irving's airspace such that it likely affected it. Jazz win 119-114 coming back from down 15 and outscore BKNY by 9-2 in the last few minutes to seal the win.
He nearly fell down, maintained his dribble. Pulls up from three with about 8 seconds left and hits the front of the rim.
You've got to manage your own load
