• Moderators, please send me a PM if you are unable to access mod permissions. Thanks, Habsy.

OT: The Official Toronto Raptors Thread

MindzEye said:
I don't buy philly as a contender and I'm struggling with seeing how their rotation works together. I'll update my CBPM spready when I have a chance, but off hand I think this puts them at like, 7th in the east or so. This entire thing really depends on Embiid's knees surviving a season and yeah, I have real doubts. This isn't like Kawhi's injury concers, which are real but dude has shown the ability to play ~55+ pretty consistently over the last few years (not too different than Lebron over the last 4-5 years). Embiid hasn't played 40 in 3 seasons now.

I see this group playing a lot of small ball because of Embiid's durability, but without the things that are needed to make small ball work. There's good but not elite shooting over there, there's no rebounding when Embiid is off the court, and below average D.
Click to expand...
"A month ago, LeBron James and Joel Embiid met privately in Los Angeles for nearly two hours.

LeBron asked Embiid directly about his health heading into the offseason and whether this would be another injury-plagued year. Embiid told him it was the first summer of his career without any surgeries and that he was fully healthy and locked in. That conversation stayed with LeBron.

Weeks later, Sixers GM Mike Gansey publicly confirmed Embiid’s status during a press conference:

“He has been putting in the work, up 15lbs of pure muscle. Now he’s around 295lbs but 13% body fat. We’re hoping it helps him stay healthy and dominate once again in the paint. He will take it up another level.

Gansey also noted it was the first offseason Embiid was truly healthy going into it and that he was in a “really good space.”

Once Embiid’s health checked out, the combination of Embiid, Maxey, Jaylen Brown, and Edgecombe became the clearest option for a final championship run."


View: https://x.com/ShotonTarget10/status/2080818119702917464?s=20
 
zeke said:
I mean they'll score plenty.
Click to expand...

Probably, but I don't think it's an insta-fit either. There's a lot of guys in that lineup who need to stop the ball for them to be at their best. We've seen what Jaylen Brown as a #2 option looks like and it's pretty meh. Embiid is a 34% USG guy, Maxey is a 30% USG guy, Lebron is a 30% guy. Brown was a 36% USG last year.

Only one ball, it's going to be tough to feed everyone. I see a lot of bad fit possibilities here.
 
MindzEye said:
Probably, but I don't think it's an insta-fit either. There's a lot of guys in that lineup who need to stop the ball for them to be at their best. We've seen what Jaylen Brown as a #2 option looks like and it's pretty meh. Embiid is a 34% USG guy, Maxey is a 30% USG guy, Lebron is a 30% guy. Brown was a 36% USG last year.

Only one ball, it's going to be tough to feed everyone. I see a lot of bad fit possibilities here.
Click to expand...

yeah it's messy. ironically, i see Brown as the biggest issue - he loves to shoot and he's got the ego and in this lineup he should try to focus on being more of a 3+D guy but i don't know that he will.

Lebron is a great glue guy offensively tho. He can make a lot of it work.
 
zeke said:
yeah it's messy. ironically, i see Brown as the biggest issue - he loves to shoot and he's got the ego and in this lineup he should try to focus on being more of a 3+D guy but i don't know that he will.

Lebron is a great glue guy offensively tho. He can make a lot of it work.
Click to expand...

He is a great glue guy but he's also someone who needs the ball in his hands a lot a lot. He makes others better when he has it rather than just himself but everyone in that lineup, including Edgecomb are better when they're on the ball. Off ball Maxey doesn't scare me, neither does off ball Brown or Embiid.

All of this is of course by the standard of an elite team, not just a good one. They'll be fine but I don't think they're elite unless Embiid's knee is actually better but I have serious doubt.

This is that is also without looking at the defensive end, and they were a below average D last year that has added below average defender Brown, & average 41 yr old Lebron as heavy minute eaters. I think they're going to struggle hard against the better teams in the east that can get down at both ends. Knicks, us, Detroit, & Boston should be throwing top 10 defences and offences at them. I don't know if a top 5 offence with a ~20th defence is something to be worried about, even if that offence meshes.
 
Also, not that anyone cares but wtf do they do with Anfernee Simons now? Simons was a really nice bench piece for Boston last year. Speaking of someone who is going to go 0/3 and then get banished to the phantom zone. He signed a 1yr + PO assuming he was going to have a role on this team.
 
MindzEye said:
Also, not that anyone cares but wtf do they do with Anfernee Simons now? Simons was a really nice bench piece for Boston last year. Speaking of someone who is going to go 0/3 and then get banished to the phantom zone. He signed a 1yr + PO assuming he was going to have a role on this team.
Click to expand...
scapegoat when they lose
 
Getting minutes allotted to all of Simons/VJ/Wade/Philon and understanding 2 of those dudes really need time to develop is going to be a challenge.

I would be giving Lebron/Joel alot of rest days
 
Last Season

Average of Offensive BPM/EPM/aEPM/DPM/DRIP/LEBRON

Kawhi +5.8
Quickley +1.8
Barnes +1.3
Barrett +1.3
Poeltl -0.2

(Demar +0.9)
CMB -0.4
Walter -0.9
Shead -1.1
Anderson -2.2


Average of Defensive BPM/EPM/aEPM/DPM/DRIP/LEBRON

Scottie +1.8
Poeltl +1.2
Kawhi +0.7
Quickley +0.2
Barrett -0.6

CMB +1.2
Anderson +1.1
Walter +0.6
Shead +0.5
(Demar -1.7)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top