RAPTORS v CLIPPERS - preseason game 1 - OCT 4th at 7pm on TS2

[white men can't jump]

Part of the reason JV gets more of a "pass" than DD, apart from it being just one freakin preseason game anyway for both guys, is JV has to be worked into a bigger role...something they should've started doing with him 2 seasons ago. He's going to take time to adjust if they actually incorporate him more and use him in more ways.

DD frustrates people because he just seems to be the same player playing the same way, despite having been given tons of time and opportunity to become better.

But yes, it's only one preseason game. Pretty much can't take it to mean much of anything.

[007]

I really hope Ross continues to play like he did yesterday.

[BS10]

JV doesn't have great court awareness, which is what contributed to his high turnovers last night and this is definitely something he needs to work on. Just knowing where his teammates are and willing to give up the ball if they have a higher percentage shot is something he needs to keep in mind. I don't think he's selfish but he's just not offensive adept yet. It's something I'll keep an eye on throughout the season from him.

We all know DD is a scorer and knows his strengths are scoring in a diverse number of ways but even when someone is open, he doesn't care to pass which is frustrating at least to me when watching him play. Whoever mentioned that when he had the ball, the offence stopped is absolutely correct. As a fan of him, he's proving all his haters right.

Its only the first game but hopefully there will be improvement further into the season with our offence and hopefully it won't be as clumsy and free flow as tonight. But they didn't work on offence so its not the players fault.

On a side note: DD's defence was good and he seemed in sync with the rest of the team on the defensive side of the floor which was a good thing. At least he's improved in that aspect of his game.

[planetmars]

Watched the game last night before bed (yay ballstreams). Lowry is just awesome. So glad he's on the team. Going to be on that MVP ladder at one point or another during the season.

Ross was engaged.. and maybe coming off the bench is the right role for him. But he seems to always get up for the Clippers so it'll take a few games to see if this is a new Ross or if it is just a mirage. Carroll doesn't seem comfortable yet in the line up. I like that he's engaged on defense but made some dumb fouls. Offensively he needs ball movement. And the ball stuck. Just preseason but if it keeps up, Carroll will be useless on offense.

Wasn't completely impressed with CoJo. His defense is so much better than GV's but in a PG I want to see how he runs an offense. There was no real offense in the first game so he didn't look great to me.. But I'm hoping that changes.

Loved that Bruno got burn.. but he only got his 15 mins because JJ was injured. Otherwise JJ would have gotten his minutes instead. I hate the hockey line up but that bench is pretty fun (assuming Ross is engaged).

DD and JV both had bad games. JV got his double double, and DD got 6 rebounds and a couple of assists.. but both seemed off. JV seemed to be getting the ball a lot more and I'm wondering if that was done on purpose. JV needs to practice that mid range shot though.. needs to be very confident in it, and not shy about taking it. He's still pretty slow though and I don't think that can be fixed. He's just a slow player. But slow isn't bad.. needs to just be more crafty (like Scola). DD was just doing what DD does. But after 7 years can you really change your style of game? It's tough to do.

2Pat was kind of invisible. Played defense well, but Griffin looked really off so I'm not sure if it was more on Griffin or more on 2Pat. 2Pat may be better coming off the bench.. and I'd like to see some JV/Scola for a game or two in the preseason to see how it looks. Will lose spacing but it's not like 2Pat was using his spacing to his advantage in the first game anyway.

Overall though it was a fun game.. but it seemed like the Raptors wanted it more than the Clippers (who did just came off a b2b I believe). So happy that Raptor ball is back!

[CalgaryRapsFan]

JV doesn't have great court awareness and this is definitely something he needs to work on. Just knowing where his teammates are and willing to give up the ball if they have a higher percentage shot. I don't think he's selfish but he's just not offensive adept yet. It's something I'll keep an eye on throughout the season from him.

We all know DD is a scorer and knows his strengths are scoring in a diverse number of ways but even when someone is open, he doesn't care to pass which is frustrating at least to me when watching him play. Whoever mentioned that when he had the ball, the offence stopped is absolutely correct. As a fan of him, he's proving all his haters right.

Its only the first game but hopefully there will be improvement further into the season with our offence and hopefully it won't be as clumsy and free flow as tonight. But they didn't work on offence so its not the players fault.

On a side note: DD's defence was good and he seemed in sync with the rest of the team on the defensive side of the floor which was a good thing. At least he's improved in that aspect of his game.

I yelled at the TV when JV was being lazy with the ball, but then I realized that a big part of the problem was that he was looking to pass the ball, yet his teammates were just standing around watching. It's the first preseason game, so everybody gets a pass on the offensive end. What I did like was the strategy of not only involving JV more in the offense, but actually looking to run plays through him.

Ross was the player who stood out for me the most. Lowry was awesome, but that's basically just Lowry when he's trim and healthy. Ross looked like a whole new player, from his physique, to his awareness, to his body language, to his on-court communication with teammates, to his intensity... loved it all!

[Bandit]

Wonderful to finally get to watch some NBA ball.

Things that stood out to me:

Didn't even think Lowry was having that great of a game, which is brilliant considering he had such an amazing game. He didn't force a thing and the feel he displayed for the flow of the game was incredible. If we can get 30 minutes a night out of skinny Lowry on a consistent basis we could have an MVP candidate.

JV had some great moments, and he had some really weak moments. Defensively he looked sharp, and it was really nice to see a couple times when the perimeter defenders funneled the offense into him. Offensively he had a tough matchup against Deandre. He did a good job at getting good post position, but his timing was off on the offense. He was getting position too early. He looks more comfortable in his face up game which is nice to see, and he had a couple nice moments where he showed some pretty good footwork. Looks like they're trying to get him more involved in the offense, him and the team are both going to take some time to figure that out.

Ross decided to play basketball it looks like. If we can get 80% of what he did last night every night for the season then he is going to be big for this team. His defense took over the game, which is something we need out of him.

DD was pretty much doing DD. Didn't see anything new, and saw a lot of the old. Next to Lowry, Demarre and Patterson, the lack of ball movement out of him kind of stood out. But hey, it was one preseason game and I'll stay open to the possibilities.

Carroll was nice to watch, he's quick on defense and knows where he needs to be. On offense we need to get him more clean looks but he knows how to move the ball quickly before the defense adjusts. Hopefully that catches on with the team.

As a team, I liked what i saw out of the defensive end right through to the third string. Looks like everyone is playing hard, and we have a more conservative system with better pieces. I feel like a top 10 defense should easily be attainable. Top 5 would impress me with this group.

Bruno looked like an NBA player until he had to dribble the ball. I can live with that. Caused some problems on defense, showed he has some quick feet and those long arms are going to catch many a shooter unawares. Best of all he was reading plays, providing help defense and generally had an idea of where he should be.

Our rookies looked good. Delon is going to be a great playmaker me thinks, Norman needs to work on his shooting mechanics, but both can defend.

Looking forward to more games, to spend way more time evaluating then i have any sane reason to spend! Hurray NBA basketball!

[Primer]

lol the double standard for JV on this forum is hilarious.

If your best defense for DD's play is that someone else on the team also had a bad game, then his play isn't really defensible. We want DD to be an above average NBA starter, the benchmark isn't "slightly better than JV who is having a bad game."

Kind of disappointing that we're still devoting entire preseasons to defense when we've done that every single year Casey has been coach, and most of these guys have played for Casey before. Hopefully that means we changed the system and it's not more of Casey trying to pound square pegs into round holes.

Would love to see heavy use of horns by the end of the preseason. Let Nick Nurse do his thing. All in all though, I'm glad to be nitpicking after a 20 point blowout win instead of panicking after a 20 point blowout loss. Lowry is the engine that runs this train and he looks better than ever, so the floor is actually quite high for this team.

[MACK11]

I didn't even check if JV took any turnaround jumpers. Since its such a bad shot.

Well there's a big difference in taking a turnaround from 5 feet away or 18 feet away

[Snooch]

I would like to see some plays run for our new 15 million dollar man offensively.

Was happy to see JV involved more.

Lowry I am not surprised at all.

But the third piece that is needed is Carroll.

Lowry/Carroll/JV

That is where our success lies.

[white men can't jump]

I would like to see some plays run for our new 15 million dollar man offensively.

Was happy to see JV involved more.

Lowry I am not surprised at all.

But the third piece that is needed is Carroll.

Lowry/Carroll/JV

That is where our success lies.

But what are you expecting from Carroll? He was the 5th option on Atlanta last year having much of his offence created for him. He's never been a high USG guy, and nothing about his game has really made it seem like he should be.

I think he can be a very nice piece as a 2-way guy, but I don't think he carries much of an offensive load. 10-15 ppg where, again, much of that has to be created for him.

[golden]

What stuck out for me was that it didn't look like there were any plays specifically run for Carroll or 2Pat to get them a clean look for a corner 3, for example.

It seems like the theme for the entire season will be defense, and that's great. But I'm hoping that "losing Lou, GV & Amir" doesn't become the defacto excuse for why the offense slips this season. Increased usage from JV and 2Pat, with Carroll & Scola, should easily be able to make up for the offense "lost" from Lou last season, if used properly. Joseph vs. GV should be a wash, usage/ORTG wise, if we use CoJo properly (i.e. run plays).

[white men can't jump]

What stuck out for me was that it didn't look like there were any plays specifically run for Carroll or 2Pat to get them a clean look for a corner 3, for example.

It seems like the theme for the entire season will be defense, and that's great. But I'm hoping that "losing Lou, GV & Amir" doesn't become the defacto excuse for why the offense slips this season. Increased usage from JV and 2Pat, with Carroll & Scola, should easily be able to make up for the offense "lost" from Lou last season, if used properly. Joseph vs. GV should be a wash, usage/ORTG wise, if we use CoJo properly (i.e. run plays).

We'll see what happens. Need to see a system put into place. Talent-wise the gap is negligible, but styles of play are very different when comparing new guys to the old.

[Snooch]

But what are you expecting from Carroll? He was the 5th option on Atlanta last year having much of his offence created for him. He's never been a high USG guy, and nothing about his game has really made it seem like he should be.

I think he can be a very nice piece as a 2-way guy, but I don't think he carries much of an offensive load. 10-15 ppg where, again, much of that has to be created for him.

I see that Carroll from the playoffs. and a Carroll that feeds/capitalizes off the play of JV/Lowry offensively by being a lower usage but very high efficiency player there, while being our top defender.

He is the third piece this season.

Lowry is our top dog, he is our scorer at the end of games or when the team is down.

JV is our man down low, posting up and making 15 footers

Carroll is cutting looking for backdoor feeds and getting his feet set behind the line.

[BS10]

I would have liked to see DD abuse Reddick in the low post more but it was a pre-season game and pre-season is more about figuring out chemistry and which guys play together better. Equally important, pre-season is about developing rhythm within the team and developing a offensive and defensive structure that fits with the personnel strengths for the rest of the season and sticking with it.

Game 2 tonight vs GS, should be a lot more interesting. Can't wait!

[Bendit]

There is indeed quite a bit of nitpicking after this game (me incl.)....I suppose result of the pentup suspense of waiting to see how all the new additions including the new coaches would mesh. Personally I am actually quite surprised about as much cohesiveness shown. Imagine after they have played a bunch of games and individual roles even more defined.

Just a feeling but I think coaches Greer (ex of the Bulls and on defense) and Kalamian (ex Thunder) who looked quite involved on the sidelines probably influenced game play/management quite a bit. Wonder how Nurse fits in with the new guys.