We're not there yet; what do we need?

[mcHAPPY]

I think the rotation of JV+Amir+Patterson is still one of the better in the league and am happy with it.

They are just massively underutilized in our offensive system.

Agreed.

Hansbrough and Hayes should only see floor in times of foul, injury, or blowout.

[Chr1s1anL]

Defensive minded center. One that is not just a rim protector but also mobile at the same time Scoring is not the problem for this team(lead the league in scoring). I believe that Bebe has the tools to become that player but, for a quick fix Marc Gasol is a FA this summer

[MACK11]

Defensive minded center. One that is not just a rim protector but also mobile at the same time Scoring is not the problem for this team(lead the league in scoring). I believe that Bebe has the tools to become that player but, for a quick fix Marc Gasol is a FA this summer

The fix is getting the chucker off this team

[JawsGT]

I think the rotation of JV+Amir+Patterson is still one of the better in the league and am happy with it.

They are just massively underutilized in our offensive system.

They are good, but nowhere near Noah, Gasol, Gibson on either end of the floor. Regardless, putting the ball in the basket isn't the issue IMO. JV, Amir, Patterson, is overall a weak rebounding trio and not good enough defensively...yet, hopefully.

[MixxAOR]

We potentially have one.

His name is Jonas.

He sits on the bench. His per36 is 16 and 12 with solid defense.

"solid"

[saints91]

I agree that DeMar has had poor shot selection the last couple games, but he has missed a lot of shots he's usually money at. He does have to make an adjustment to his game, but to get rid of the heart and soul of this team is assinine. His character has made this team what it is, and he's damn good player when he is playing within the game. DC should take him aside and talk to him about his shot selection and moving the ball. Trading DeMar is not the answer.

The major problem is the ability to defend the elite/upper tier post players. It's been a problem since last year. Gasol, Al Jefferson, Randolph etc. ate us up last year. I love Amir but I think we need a change at the starting 4. I'm not sure who we could get with our spare pieces, but perhaps there's a team out there at the trade deadline that wants to create cap room. Amir and Patterson coming off the bench would be amazing!

[planetmars]

The Raptors don't lose games because of their offense. They lose because of their defense. They did score 93 points against the Bulls which isn't that bad, but they gave up 100.

We lost because of Gasol.. we almost lost to Orlando because of Vucevic. These are the guys that can beat us. If teams are relying on their athleticism to beat us, they are going to struggle because we have a tone of athletes. What we don't have is a stud big man on defense.

Last year we struggled against Brooklyn because we had no answer for Joe Johnson.. this year we got JJ, but we still didn't fix the problem if we had to face a stellar front court.

Amir is our most important defensive big, but his ankles are a huge concern. If a big can float around the perimeter (like Frye the other day) we're toast. Jonas does fine on defense, but he's not a stud.. and I don't know if he'll ever become one.

Our offense doesn't go through our bigs, and I'm not sure that will happen if DD is on the team. I'm not saying that's a huge problem but one that can be fixed with the right transaction.

So in my opinion the team should be looking for a center/pf combo that is elite at D (and maybe not so much at O).

Someone like Larry Sanders comes to mind. I'd even take a crack at Hibbert if he was available (he's doing fairly well this season so has rebounded from his mental? issues from last year).

[from toronto]

Terriblu

[from toronto]

Just need more time and hard work work

[jpaps]

We can't punish teams for going small. That's a big issue.

Couldn't have said it any better myself.

I'd love to see David West and honestly think its much more like a trade than Horford and Favors

[jlongs]

No trades (yet), just accountability. The same accountability tendered to JV and Ross (and the bench), needs to be handed to Demar as well. No excuses, no special treatment for your star player if he's shitting real bad.

I think this all-star/team USA thing has gotten to his head. He needs to realize he's had one good season, and hasn't done shit so far in the grand scheme of things. If he doesn't get it together soon we're in trouble, and I blame Casey in part for enabling him.

Also, I feel like the team is relying too much on trying to get to the line. Pump fakes galore followed by bad shots, followed by whining to the refs for the no-call.

[saints91]

Getting to the line is working though. It's the most efficient way of scoring, plus I love that we are being aggressive going to the rim. We were relying way too much on the 3 last year. They need to kick out if the pump fake isn't drawing anything though.

[MACK11]

Casey on Rudy Gay when he went 11-37!

"We had to put the ball in Rudy’s hands. He had it going,” Casey said. “DeMar struggled. I think he was 2-for-15 in the first half. Rudy was the only one that really had something rolling with a rhythm. It was one of those nights. If it was DeMar rolling we would have milked him. But tonight it was Rudy and did a great job of carrying us, getting us into overtime."

This guy is a complete moron, how the fuck did he have it going when he missed 26 shots????????????????

This same B.S treatment is happening with Emar Erozan.

Casey needs to go!

[OldSkoolCool]

Agreed.

Hansbrough and Hayes should only see floor in times of foul, injury, or blowout.

No Hansborough. Ever

Hayes in certain matchups I like.

They are good, but nowhere near Noah, Gasol, Gibson on either end of the floor. Regardless, putting the ball in the basket isn't the issue IMO. JV, Amir, Patterson, is overall a weak rebounding trio and not good enough defensively...yet, hopefully.

I know you are going for overall...but as long as JV is on the floor our rebounding numbers are fantastic.

"solid"

I would argue that JV has been really good. His weak side help has been fantastic with how often our guards get blown by. I think his defensive improvement has been something that has went unnoticed.

[MixxAOR]

what do we need?

it's gonna be a long season