I’m not gonna spend a ton of time here, because a) it’s the preseason, b) I did a full-ish Gameday this morning, and c) I’m exhausted. Check this morning’s preview for most of what you need, but a few minor updates follow.
More important than any game specifics, basketball is finally back, period.
“Guys are tired of drills…and each other.” – Dwane Casey on the team being ready to get the season started. pic.twitter.com/uhiCuXjTIy
— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) October 1, 2016
The game tips off from Vancouver at 7:30 p.m. (Eastern) on TSN.
Raptors updates
Somewhat surprisingly, DeMarre Carroll is going to play in the preseason opener, according to our pal Josh Lewenberg of TSN, who has the fortune of being in beautiful Vancouver for the week. Carroll isn’t necessarily on a minute’s restriction but Dwane Casey told reporters the team will be “smart” with his usage. Yes, please. get him a few reps with the starters at the beginning of each half and then strap the ice bags to those knees – there are three games in five days starting today, and the season opener is still over three weeks away, so there’s no sense of urgency here. I’m sure they’ll handle with care.
We’re reaching a bit with assumptions here in a preseason opener, but here’s a best guess at the rotation for Saturday:
PG: Kyle Lowry, Cory Joseph, Fred VanVleet, (Delon Wright)
SG: DeMar DeRozan, Norman Powell, Brady Heslip, Drew Crawford
SF: DeMarre Carroll, Terrence Ross, Bruno Caboclo, E.J. Singler
PF: Jared Sullinger, Patrick Patterson, Pascal Siakam, Jarrod Uthoff
C: Jonas Valanciunas, Lucas Nogueira, Jakob Poeltl, Yanick Moreira
Heslip has been seeing some time at the one, Ross/Powell/DeRozan are largely interchangeable as wings if Carroll has a light night. Uthoff could play the three some, and Crawford can fit in a few places. Again, it’s a bit up in the air, being a preseason opener and all. Casey could opt to play his set guys just a few minutes and basically turn the 604 into a 905.
And don’t expect too much of a Warriors-specific focus. As Casey told Mike Ganter of the Toronto Sun:
It’s good to have different faces, different bodies, different situations because right now we’re trying to guess where our issue are defensively and offensively so that’s what exhibition season is about. It’s not about winning and losing — I’m from the old school, every time we walk out there, we want to win — but most important thing is to see what we need to work on, see how they perform under the lights with officials.
Warriors updates
It’s just as tough to guess here, with the Warriors not owing a home-country fanbase anything in terms of star minutes. Head coach Steve Kerr did say, however, that everyone will play (Hi, Julie, welcome to Canada!), likely meaning the key guys, not all 20 names in camp. I’m not sure you could make a bad five-man lineup out of this roster, anyway, and even if the stars are limited, I’m excited to see pre-draft favorite Patrick McCaw build on a strong Summer League.
Kerr says he won't use his starters "a whole lot" tonight
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) October 1, 2016
PG: Steph Curry, Shaun Livingston, Phil Pressey, Elliot Williams
SG: Klay Thompson, Ian Clark, Patrick McCaw, Cameron Jones
SF: Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala, Elgin Cook, Scott Wood
PF: Draymond Green, David West, James Michael McAdoo, Kevon Looney
C: Zaza Pachulia, Anderson Varejao, JaVale McGee, Damian Jones
The line
The Raptors are 4-point underdogs on the neutral court against the defending runners-up. Preseason lines are mostly meaningless and a rough, educated guess at potential playing time for stars and, perhaps more importantly in the case of the Warriors, where the action will go. Most preseason games can probably considered coin flips, for the purposes of non-bettors, but if we actually cared, the line seems more than fair on neutral court.
Excuse me, I’m out of practice, let me try again: Can you believe this disrespect? Good, I’m glad the Raptors get some more #ProveEm, anyway. But Vegas doesn’t know what’s up…forget Curry and Durant and Lowry and DeRozan, Elgin Cook ain’t got shit on E.J. Singler, and there’s no way Cameron Jones can chase Brady Heslip off the line! AND:
The @Raptors are 5-1 in #NBACanada series. 3-0 in preseason here in Vancouver. Game sold out on-line in less than 10 mins #WeTheNorth #rtz
— Paul Jones (@Paul__Jones) October 1, 2016
Or something. I can’t purport to know what Casey and Kerr might be planning with respect to minutes. Raptors lose by DQ when Russell Westbrook interferes.
