Big-Bully Small-Ball

[Demographic Shift]

It's becoming abundantly clear that our beloved Raptors have coalesced for the time being, and despite the limited changes, new trends emerge. You could argue it's merely an extension of what we called Masai's Wait & See strategy, building assets around Colangelo's (humbler) beginnings, but the upcoming incarnation is especially interesting as Masai seems to assembled one of the youngest, highest potential, guard & big-heavy rosters in the modern NBA.

With Sullinger in the starting lineup, Casey will be going with an old-school bully-ball lineup to start the game - very much going against the trend. Not since the days of Oakley/AD/Willis have we had such a physically imposing starting bigman combo. That's matched with a bully-ball old-school backcourt in Kyle and DeMar. Then you've got your bully-ball 3, finally healthy, in Carroll. You give them the screening power and finishing power of JV and Sullinger you really might be able combat the small ball trend.(..if they can hit 3s as a unit and move their feet quickly enough)

But then looky, looky, looky what we have off the bench. It's small-ball all the way, backed up by a seemingly endless supply of bigs and young players. This starts with Norman F---ing Powell - a guy who I now fully expect to be in the running, if not the favourite, for 6th man of the year. He's a guard that can guard 3 positions and is good-to-go. And then you've got Cory, who is likewise ready to produce as one of the better bench-guards in the league. And the small forward? - another 3-position defender in T-Ross - more shooting. And more shooting again in Patterson.

And that's you 9-man rotation. Then you bring JV or Sully back in, or maybe give Bebe/Poeltl some matchup run here and there. It goes from big and traditional to small-ball and hyper versatile. It's not Casey's first successful experiment with traditional->modernball - last year just happened - but I'd argue it projects to be the finest.

Why? 1) Because we've never had this good of guardplay before - Delon Wright is ready to start contributing at a high level; and 2) because we've never really had this calibre of bigman (largely thanks to JV), especially on O trading Biyombo for Sully, but also having the depth and athleticism you need to consistently take physical command of the game.

What am I even trying to say here? I guess I'm trying to say that Masai's new team is going to take Casey-ball to another level. You ram it down their throats with a barrage of screenen drives and a big-boy team. Then you run them out of the gym with a 2nd set of dribble drive guards. And you might round it out with a little Delon-to-Jakob pick and roll and some garbage-time goodness from Bruno and Siamam.

It's orthodox meets unorthodox. Back to the future in terms of the style and age-makeup of the team. It's big-bully-small-ball.

And it's going to be glorious.

There aren't really all that many new ideas out there in sports...just some really applicable old ones ...and your notion of a "new" Bully Ball approach is great !

Queue the Notre Dame Fight Song in the background .... here come the Raptors.

[Axel]

Bully ball in the backcourt - getting into the paint and drawing contact, two of the best in the league.

Carroll - I'll give you that he's a tad undersized relative to many starting 3s, but healthy he can be JYD 2.0, I think that qualifies.

But the bully really comes from our starting 4/5 combo, if Sullinger can get there. And the over pound-the-rockness of our starting 5 overall.

Ok, not sure I agree that our backcourt really is described as bully ball, when really they both usually require a screen to get deep into the defence. Neither uses strength as a particular advantage in their play style.

Our bigs have been relegated to screen setting for the past couple of seasons; I don't see anything different in that regards yet. Casey will still rely heavily on the guards to create offence. We aren't suddenly going to run a Memphis Grizzlies style offence. I would be, pleasantly, surprised if our offence incorporated much more big man touches.

[SkywalkerAC]

Ok, not sure I agree that our backcourt really is described as bully ball, when really they both usually require a screen to get deep into the defence. Neither uses strength as a particular advantage in their play style.

They play "the city game" by getting to the paint, not sure what needing a screen has to do with it. Pretty sure DeMar is up there in terms of post-ups for a guard as well.

[Axel]

They play "the city game" by getting to the paint, not sure what needing a screen has to do with it. Pretty sure DeMar is up there in terms of post-ups for a guard as well.

Haha ok Jack.

Really don't see it. Needing a screen means that they aren't using their strength to "bully" to the rim. Our offence requires the use of screens a lot; don't see any real change in that based on our personnel changes.

Demar doesn't post up that much. Even when he has the advantage it seems an underutilized part of his game compared to guards of the early 2000s and late 90s.

[consmap]

They play "the city game" by getting to the paint, not sure what needing a screen has to do with it. Pretty sure DeMar is up there in terms of post-ups for a guard as well.

When DeMar posts up he doesn't really use his strength or try to physically impose whoever is guarding him. He relies mostly on footwork and a bit of craftiness from what I've seen.

[Axel]

When DeMar posts up he doesn't really use his strength or try to physically impose whoever is guarding him. He relies mostly on footwork and a bit of craftiness from what I've seen.

Also his 0.6 post touches per game are about half as many as Cory Joseph and have him tied with such bully guards as CJ McCollum and Monta Ellis in the 250-300 range for guards ranked by post touches.

It's a skilled part of his game but not very prominent or strength based.

[SkywalkerAC]

Also his 0.6 post touches per game are about half as many as Cory Joseph and have him tied with such bully guards as CJ McCollum and Monta Ellis in the 250-300 range for guards ranked by post touches.

It's a skilled part of his game but not very prominent or strength based.

Whoa, way lower than I would have expected. Goes to show how much Casey prefers the dribble-attack game.

[Machine]

Haha ok Jack.

Really don't see it. Needing a screen means that they aren't using their strength to "bully" to the rim. Our offence requires the use of screens a lot; don't see any real change in that based on our personnel changes.

Demar doesn't post up that much. Even when he has the advantage it seems an underutilized part of his game compared to guards of the early 2000s and late 90s.

And even when he has a huge advantage in the post he still does that lame turn around spin fade away that almost never goes in

[KeonClark]

And even when he has a huge advantage in the post he still does that lame turn around spin fade away that almost never goes in

Ah you just mean the "MJ". Some call it the "kobe"

Yeah, he won't be stopping that move anytime soon